Giuseppe Coppola
Giuseppe Coppola was an Italian patriot and revolutionary leader from Erice, Sicily. He was active in the liberal uprisings against Bourbon rule during the revolutions of 1848 and later took part in Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860 campaign in Sicily, commanding local volunteers during the Battle of Calatafimi, a key engagement in the movement that led to the unification of Italy.
Biography
Coppola was born in Erice on 18 March 1821. At the time of his birth, Sicily was not part of a unified Italian state but belonged to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a monarchy ruled from Naples by the Bourbon dynasty. Political power was highly centralised, civil liberties were limited, and economic conditions were harsh, particularly in southern Italy and Sicily.In 1848, a wave of revolutionary movements swept across Europe, as liberal and nationalist groups challenged conservative monarchies and demanded constitutional government. In Trapani, Coppola emerged as one of the most influential members of the local revolutionary committee, a body composed of local liberal and nationalist activists opposed to Bourbon rule.
Storming of the Castello di Terra
Alongside Enrico Fardella, a prominent Trapanese patriot active in the revolutionary movement, Coppola led an assault on the Castello di Terra, the principal Bourbon stronghold within the town. The seizure of the fortress symbolised the collapse of royal authority in Trapani and enabled the revolutionary committee to assume control of local administration.Coppola was subsequently appointed Vice-Governor of the province of Trapani and Major of the National Guard. Enrico Fardella’s brother, Vincenzo Fardella di Torrearsa, who later became the first President of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy, was appointed Governor of the province during the revolutionary administration.
After the defeat of the Sicilian revolution in 1849, Bourbon forces reasserted control over the island and dismantled the revolutionary administrations that had briefly governed towns such as Trapani. Former members of the revolutionary committees were removed from office and many were arrested or otherwise repressed as the restored monarchy sought to eliminate centres of opposition. Enrico Fardella went into exile following the restoration of Bourbon rule and later served as an officer in the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Coppola remained under suspicion for his continued political activity and was repeatedly targeted by the authorities. He was arrested and imprisoned on several occasions, including periods of confinement on the island of Favignana, which the Bourbon regime used as a place of detention for political prisoners. He was held there in 1856–57 and again at the end of 1859, shortly before the outbreak of the insurrection that preceded Garibaldi’s landing in Sicily.
Expedition of the Thousand
By 1860, the movement for Italian unification had entered a decisive phase. Northern and central Italy had already seen major political change following the wars of independence against Austrian rule, while the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies remained the largest and most powerful obstacle to unification in the south. The revolutionary leader Giuseppe Garibaldi, a veteran of earlier uprisings and a symbol of popular nationalism, organised a volunteer force aimed at overthrowing Bourbon rule in Sicily and mainland southern Italy. In May 1860, this force—later known as the Expedition of the Thousand—sailed from northern Italy and landed at Marsala, initiating a campaign that would rapidly destabilise Bourbon authority across the island.Released from prison at the outbreak of the April 1860 insurrection, Coppola reorganised the local resistance. He then went into hiding, awaiting the arrival of Giuseppe Garibaldi in the mountains near Castellammare del Golfo. At the Battle of Calatafimi on 15 May 1860, Garibaldian volunteers clashed with Bourbon troops, with Coppola commanding a detachment of about 800 infantry and 25 cavalry. Contemporary accounts also describe his leadership of local volunteer fighters, noting that “at least two hundred picciotti, led by Coppola, threw themselves into the thick of the fighting”. This battle marked the first major engagement of Garibaldi's campaign in Sicily, part of the wider Risorgimento movement and the operations of the Southern Army.
Later life
After the victory at Calatafimi, Coppola continued with Garibaldi during the advance toward Palermo, whose capture in late May 1860 marked a decisive turning point in the Sicilian campaign and effectively ended Bourbon control in western Sicily. During this phase of the expedition, Garibaldi relied on trusted local leaders to consolidate control in liberated towns.Coppola was entrusted with the task of expelling the remaining Bourbon garrison from Trapani and securing the surrounding area, while Garibaldi and the main volunteer force continued eastward across Sicily toward Messina, preparatory to the crossing to mainland Italy.
Following the completion of the campaign and the unification of Italy in 1861, Coppola withdrew from active political and military life. He returned to Erice and did not again take part in the political or administrative affairs of the town. He died at his home in Erice on 14 January 1902.
Commemoration
Coppola is commemorated in Erice through a number of public monuments and place names reflecting his role in the Risorgimento.In Erice's Balio Gardens, a bust honours Coppola as a local leader of the 1848 and 1860 revolutionary movements. A marble plaque on the façade of the Palazzo Municipale, installed in 1910, commemorates the 875 men from Erice who joined Garibaldi’s 1860 campaign for Italian unification. Led by Coppola, they fought at the Battle of Calatafimi. The inscription records the town’s gratitude to its citizens who contributed to the liberation of Sicily.
Another marble plaque is affixed to Coppola’s former residence in Erice's Via Vittorio Emanuele. It records his death in 1902 and refers to his political persecution, exile to Favignana, and leadership of Erice’s volunteers during the Risorgimento. The plaque was also installed in 1910, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the events of 1860.
Coppola’s name is further preserved in the urban landscape through Via Giuseppe Coppola, a street located near Trapani’s Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli.
In 2023, the municipality of Valderice announced plans to allocate approximately €4 million from Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan for the restoration of another former residence of Coppola, with the intention of repurposing the building for public and community use.