Among the many personalities who have linked their name to the Unity of Italy there is Giacinto Albini of Montemurro. He was born in Naples on March 24, 1821 and he is a descendant of a family originally from Sarconi (town of the Agri Valley) that moved to Montemurro in the second half of the 16th century. Giacinto is the eldest son of the doctor Gaetano Albini and Elisabetta Morgigno of Naples and with his brothers Victoria, Erminia, Mariantonia, Nicola Maria Giovanni, Anna, Giovanni, Tommaso Domenico lives near the church of San Domenico attached to the Convent of the Santissima Annunziata. In Montemurro he spends his adolescence under the guidance of private teachers. In Latronico he begins his studies in civil law and in 1842 moves to Naples where he obtains a law degree the following year. In 1845 he also graduates in Literature and obtains a license for public teaching. But to the profession of lawyer he prefers the discussions of literary circles where he finds fertile ground for his increasingly liberal political tendencies. Since 1846 he has been part of the preparation of the revolutionary movements of 1848 and in Montemurro he founds and directs a Constitutional Circle whose goal is to press so that the king grants the Constitution in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, a concession indeed granted. However, remained skeptical of this measure he witnesses its revocation and the subsequent sentences inflicted by the Bourbon government on the animators of the conspiracy, mostly belonging to the Circle of Montemurro. For the same reasons, Albini is also wanted. Arrest orders against him are issued by the courts of Naples, Salerno and Catanzaro. He takes refuge in the mountains of Lucan and Calabria, continuing to organize the revolt against the Bourbon to be extended throughout the Province of Basilicata. In 1850 he founds in Montemurro the Republican Committee whose seat is inside the Palace Marra (on the exterior facade still a plaque reminiscent of the names of the members). In 1852, obtained the King’s indulgence, he leaves the underground to move to Naples where he instructs his countrymen always maintaining contact with the Province of origin. In 1854 together with Giuseppe Fanelli, Luigi Dragone and Giovanni Matina he creates the Mazzinian Committee, corresponding with Mazzini himself exiled in London. At the same time the activities of the Montemurrese Committee progress. For Republican propaganda it can rely on business relationships existing on the whole South Italy. Montemurro is, in fact, a major commercial centre thanks to its economic activities, so that the retailers work to exchange in addition to the goods leaflets, proclamations and correspondences. Meanwhile Giacinto Albini, under a false name, travels a lot between the committees and sub committees of Salernitan and of Calabria established in 1856. For the work of proselytism he is assisted by his brother Nicola. In 1855 he marries Adelaide Ferroni of Naples, who dies after 12 years, leaving him alone with his sons Elisa, Gaetano, Francesco and Decio. After the failed attempt of the Sapri expedition where his friend Carlo Pisacane dies, Montemurro becomes the center of action of Basilicata with Albini again forced into hiding due to the tightening of the Bourbon measures. On 16 December 1857 a terrible earthquake unfortunately hits the Val d’Agri and the nearby Diano Valley. It’s evening and destruction extinguishes the lives of 4,000 Montemurresi. The village had 8,000 inhabitants. Giacinto Albini, who that night is at Baron Netti’s house, miraculously saves himself barely protected by a wooden staircase. He is rescued after more than 24 hours. Adversity, however, does not distract him from the conspiracy. He moves the Committee to Luigi Marra’s country house but after the arrest of his brother Nicola he has to move the Committee to Corleto Perticara in the Carmine Senise’s house. From her he continues to lead the Lucan and Puglian Insurrection Committees in a situation made difficult by the damage of the earthquake. However the events seem to turn in his favor. Garibaldi’s expedition is underway and the event gives new vigour to the insurrections. On 10 August 1859 Albini and some of his companions leave Naples on the same day that his brother Nicola, who obtained amnesty following the death of King Ferdinand II, goes to Viggiano with many Montemurresi in tow. They wave the flag and wear the tricolour cockades made by his sister Vittoria Albini, also a fervent patriot and tireless defender of the brothers against the incursions of the Bourbon police. The enthusiastic Viggianesi welcome them to the cry “Long live Italy with Vittorio Emanuele”. On 15 August 1860 Giacinto Albini accompanied by Nicola Mignogna travels to Montemurro to hug his father before trying the risky feat. The next day, the tricolour flag made by the daughters of Baron Netti is handed to them and they head to Corleto and from here on 18 August they leave for Potenza followed by a growing number of volunteers from Montemurro, from other Lucan towns and from the surrounding regions. In Potenza they declare the Bourbon government fallen and proclaim a provisional one in the name of Vittorio Emanuele King of Italy and Garibaldi dictator of the Two Sicilies. Albini and Mignogna are the pro-dictators. All this happens while Garibaldi is still in Sicily. After a few days, Calabria and the Salernitan territory arise on the Lucan example. A mild effort by the king to quell the revolt fails before the strong impediment of the Lucans, of every social class and gender. The army retreats practically without a fight. Garibaldi arrived in Auletta (Salerno province) on September 5, 1860, and meets Giacinto Albini, who then appoints Governor of Basilicata with unlimited powers. He in turn appoints Giacomo Racioppi as his secretary general. There are several accolades for that epic triumph. King Umberto I bestows on the city of Potenza the gold medal on 11 December 1898. Alexandre Dumas in “Les garibaldiens. Revolution de Sicilie et Naples” highlights Potenza’s revolution of August 18, 1860, reporting the turnout of the masses, the organization of the uprising and the renunciation of the royal soldiers to suffocate it. In his report on the garibaldina adventure, the author quotes among others Giacinto Albini and emphasizes the patriotic heart of those who spread the ideal of the unitary state from Basilicata to the South Italy.

Having become Governor of his region Albini tries to meet the needs of his people tried by the difficult economic and social conditions in which they live. But every solution he identifies, even if it is based on fairness and wisdom, fails because of the general climate inclined to the interests of the more affluent class. His government is short-lived and his lofty ideals succumb to personal advantages and the new government’s objectives that are not inclined to the demands of the South Italy. He is destined for other assignments. From 1 November 1860 he is officer of the department at the former Presidency of Ministers in Naples. In 1861 he is elected Deputy in the Lagonegro and Melfi constituency but renounces his seat in Parliament and remains director of the Royal Stamperia of Naples. Then he retires to private life living in the composure whose does not know to ask or reclaim rights. He returns to public life with the appointment of Treasurer General in the Province of Benevento and then as Conservator of the Mortgages of Basilicata. Elected city councillor of Benevento and Naples 1867, he returns to Montemurro where he is mayor from 1876 to 1878. He dies in Potenza on 11 March 1884 between the late general.

In the first centenary of the birth of the “Mazzini lucano” as Francesco Crispi has called it, the Municipality of Montemurro, Mayor Vincenzo Robilotta, on August 15, 1921 inaugurates in the square named after him a marble bust work of the sculptor Salvatore Grita. On the facade of the family house is placed a plaque dictated by Racioppi, his friend and main biographer. Destroyed by the earthquake of 1980, the Municipality of Montemurro reconstructs it and affixes it to the celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the Unity of Italy. The city of Potenza pays homage to Giacinto Albini in several ways. It dedicates a street to him and in 1893 it exposes a plaque in the atrium of the Provincial Palace, a building that also houses in the upper floor his bust made by the sculptor Carmine Genua. In addition, on the first centenary of 18 August, the city dedicates to him a monumental sepulcher to the city cemetery. On 11 March 1923, Rome also pays tribute to one who dedicated his life to the Unity of Italy. The city council of the capital, Mayor Sen. Luigi Rava, shall act unanimously the placement of the marble bust of Giacinto Albini in the garden of Pincio in memory of his virtues as a man of high intellect and good soul with which he fought tenaciously for the free and united homeland (Giuseppe Mazzini called him “brother in the Fatherland”). The work sculpted by Vito Pardo is set together with many faces of illustrious Italians.

“Necrologia per Nicola Giacoia” published in the Journal of Legislative and Economic Moral Sciences of Naples, 1842; “Ore Poetiche” book of poems dedicated to his father, Naples 1845; “Ai cittadini lucani”, Potenza 1860; “Agesilao”, Milano 1884; “Eco di ore Malinconiche”, Roma 1894; “L’addio di Byron”, Roma 1894; “Poesie varie”, Bologna 1884; “Polinnia”, Roma 1907 dedicated to his friend Carlo Pisacane; “Albini and Mignogna – Letter to Garibaldi”, Potenza 1860; “Corso elementare tecnico pratico di lingua latina”, typography G. Ranucci, Naples 1850.