Cantiano hosted on Sunday the descendants of one of its most illustrious fellow citizens: General Luigi Bartolucci. Coming from the United Kingdom and the United States of America, they were welcomed by the deputy mayor Natalia Grilli in the City Council room. Here, thanks to the work of Fiorenzo Bei and Maurizio Tanfulli, documents and objects belonging to the Bartolucci family, when they still lived in Cantiano, were exhibited for the occasion. General Luigi Bartolucci was born in Rome on 15 August 1788. After spending his first years in Cantiano where the family originated, in 1805 he entered the French army, where he soon reached the rank of cavalry lieutenant.
He participated in the Russian campaign, joining the General Staff and becoming Murat’s aide-de-camp; his valor earned him the cross of the Legion of Honor, that of the Constantinian Order and promotion to captain. He spent the period from 1824 to 1837 in Cantiano, during which he proved to be an active conspirator. In 1849 the college of Urbino and Pesaro elected him as its representative to the Roman Constituent Assembly, and in this capacity in the session of 8 February Bartolucci voted in favor of the establishment of the Republic. On the 10th of the same month he was promoted to honorary brigadier general and assigned to command the 1st division; in April he obtained the rank of commander of the cavalry, and on 30 May he was promoted to general of division.
“The meeting with the descendants of Luigi Bartolucci was a truly touching and special moment – they underlined in the Municipality – which we hope will be repeated in the future, to always renew the memory of those who played such an important role in the process of unification of the ‘Italy is on the path of civil liberties. With the hope that from this visit relationships and/or projects can be born that bring concrete and positive implications to the Cantian community.
This article is originally published on ilrestodelcarlino.it