Epitaph of Altamura

Epitaph of Altamura
Native name
Italian: Epitaffio di Altamura
Epitaph of Altamura
Nearest city Altamura
Coordinates 40°50′18″N 16°33′03″E / 40.838425°N 16.550767°E / 40.838425; 16.550767
Height approximately 4 meters
Built 1807 ca.

The Epitaph of Altamura (Italian: Epitaffio di Altamura) is a monument erected right after the visit to Altamura, Italy, on 8 April 1807, of Joseph Bonaparte (the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte), who had just become king of Naples (1806–1808).[1] The commemorative epitaph is located in largo Epitaffio (Epitaph square), and it is traditionally named epitaph, although it is not a funerary inscription but instead a commemorative monument.

History

Joseph Bonaparte was coming from the city of Taranto and was returning to Naples, from where he had departed on 21 March of the same year. The representatives of the city of Altamura and a multitude of people went to meet and warmly welcomed Joseph Bonaparte, who stopped to greet the people in the square that since then is named largo Epitaffio. Joseph Bonaparte stayed in Altamura in the palace of count Viti, and then he left. On 9 April the king was in Venosa, and on 12 April he was already back in Naples.[2]

Characteristics

The monument originally contained an inscription, an imperial eagle symbol and a coat of arms. The inscription and the coat of arms were both erased following the restoration and the return of the Bourbons to Naples (1815) with Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.[2] The inscription is not readable anymore and the coat of arms is partly unrecognizable. According to what Ottavio Serena reported, the imperial eagle was still visible in the second half of the XIX century .[3]

The letter to Napoleon

Joseph Bonaparte, in the same day of his visit to Altamura, wrote a letter to his brother Napoleon Bonaparte:

Joseph à Nap. Altamura, 8 avril 1807

Sire, je suis en route pur retourner à Naples. J'ai lieu d'être content de mon voyage, et je m'aperçois tous le jours davantage qu'il faut tout voir par soi-même.

Tous les pas que je fais dans la carrière me rapprochent tous les jours davantage de la manière de sentir et de voir de Votre Majestè. J'aime à le redire, et je sens que le prince seul a un intérêt unique et homogène avec celui de ses peuples.

Joseph to Napoleon, Altamura, 8 April 1807

Sire, I'm on my way back to Naples. I have good reasons to be satisfied with my trip, and I realize every day more that all of this should be seen with one's own eyes..

Each step of my career takes me closer to the way of feeling and seeing of Your Majesty. I like to say it again, and I feel that only the prince has a unique and homogeneous interest with his peoples'.

— Letter from Joseph Bonaparte to his brother Napoleon Bonaparte, written on 8 April 1807, A. Du Casse[1][4]

References

  1. 1 2 storie-inedite p. 263
  2. 1 2 storie-inedite p. 264
  3. ↑ storie-inedite p. 264 - La colonna e l'aquila si vedono anche oggi (Ottavio Serena)
  4. ↑ Memoires 1854, Lib. 6, p. 333

Bibliography

  • Berloco, Tommaso (1985). Storie inedite della città di Altamura (in Italian). ATA - Associazione Turistica Altamurana Pro Loco.
  • A. Du Casse (1854). Mémoires et correspondence politique et militaire du Roi Joseph publiès, annotès et mis en ordre par A. Du Casse Aide De Camp de S. A. I. le prince Jérôme Napoléon (in French). third tome (2 ed.). Paris: Perrotin, Libraire-editeur. p. 333.
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