Broken by Pastina

Hippolito da Pastina is the hero of the anti-Spanish Salernitana revolution of 1647, that which in Naples is identified with Masaniello. And our Hippolito is the Masaniello Salernitano, born in the district of Fornelle, son of a baker, against the oppressor Spanish government took control of the city and installed its command in the Fort La Carnale.

Hippolytus did the walking fish because his father’s workshop failed, he is an attacker and is sentenced to forced labor. But on the occasion of the Neapolitan revolution, he escapes and plays the bell tower of Sant’Andrea de Lavina, the church of his neighborhood, calls the Salento to the revolt.

From the Fort La Carnale Ippolito commands its own, makes incursions in the city still in hand to the Spanish-style, commands expeditions throughout the province, accredied with the government of the Republic of Naples and gets the charge – honorary – of governor of the province of Salerno and Lucania.

When the French, deployed with the riots, arrive with their fleet, Ippolito deploys with them, but in a furious battle with the Spanish troops, he is defeated. The winners turn against the riots and hang the leaders in Piazza Portanova, but not Hippolito, who managed to escape to Rome, where he asks for help to the French embassy.

But the cause of the revolution is lost, Salerno, together with the whole Vice-Reame will remain under Spanish rule for decades, and the hopes of a Mezzogiorno free from malgovernment and oppression must be archived.

Hippolytus will die in Rome in 1656.