Pasque Veronesi

Veronese Easters
Part of the French campaign of 1797 in Italy
Verona's Guardia Nobile (in blue and yellow and tricornes) and Schiavoni troops (in red jackets and black fezs,) during a re-enactment of the Pasque Veronesi.
Date 17 April 1797 – 25 April 1797 Location Verona Result French victory
Belligerents
French Republic	People of Verona
Commanders and leaders
Antoine Balland General Landrieux	Francesco Battaia

The Veronese Easter (Italian: Pasque Veronesi, or singular Pasqua Veronese; French: Pâques véronaises) was a rebellion during the Italian campaign of 1797, in which inhabitants of Verona and the surrounding areas revolted against the French occupying forces under Antoine Balland, while Napoleon Bonaparte (the French supreme commander in the Italian campaign) was fighting in Austria. They are so-called due to association with the Sicilian Vespers. Incited by oppressive behaviour by the French (confiscating the assets of Verona's citizens and plotting to overthrow the city's local government), it began on the morning of 17 April 1797, the second day of Easter: the enraged population succeeded in defeating more than a thousand French soldiers in the first hour of fighting, forcing them to take refuge in the town's fortifications, which the mob then captured by force. The revolt ended on 25 April 1797 with the encirclement and capture of the town by 15,000 soldiers, who then forced it to pay a huge fine and hand over various assets, including artwork.

The Pasque Veronesi were the most important episode in a vast anti-French and anti-Jacobin insurgency movement which arose throughout the Italian peninsula from 1796 to 1814 — other important episodes included the campaigns of the Armata della Santa Fede which, guided by cardinal Ruffo, succeeded in reconquering the kingdom of Naples, the actions of the Viva Maria band in Tuscany and Liguria, and Andreas Hofer's victories in the County of Tyrol. The movement's followers were numerous, with sources talking of at least 280,000 insurgents and 70,000 dead.

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