SANTORRE DI SANTAROSA

Count Santorre di Santarosa (1783-1825) was a military officer and politician from Piedmont, Italy, and an ardent patriot, who fought many battles for Piedmont’s independence from Napoleonic France. A champion of Italy’s unification, he was inspired by democratic-liberal ideas that brought him into conflict with autocratic regimes; he joined the Carbonari, and in 1821 played a leading role in a constitutional movement in Piedmont. After the failure of the revolt, he was arrested but escaped, ending up in Great Britain, where he came in contact with the London Philhellenic Committee. Profoundly moved by the Greeks’ struggle for freedom, he decided to travel to Greece in 1824. He joined the Greek army as a simple soldier with the alias Derossi. In 1825, Santarosa participated in the Pylos campaign against Ibrahim, landing on Sphakteria island on 7 May. In the battle that followed on the next day, fighting heroically, he was killed, along with many others.