The Assassin's Head

November 17, 1878 - It was on this day that an Italian anarchist named Giovanni Passannante tried to kill King Umberto I. The king, his wife Margherita and Prime Minister Cairolli were in an open carriage, taking a tour of Naples when Giovanni approached them, seemingly in peace. Suddenly the young man whipped out a knife and lunged at the passengers as he shouted, “Long live the Universal Republic!.”

The queen threw a bouquet of flowers in the attacker’s face. The prime minister managed to grab Giovanni by his hair and took a knife wound in the leg for his heroics. The king got by with slight grazing on his arm. Quickly, the king’s guard rushed in and whacked Giovanni on the head with his saber. The assassin was subdued and arrested.

Justice was swift and cruel. Giovanni was sentenced to death, but his fate would be much worse. He would spend almost 20 years in a tiny and dark cell on the island of Elba where he was brutally tortured. Sailors passing by the island reported hearing his screams. Mentally and physically broken, he would eventually be transferred an asylum where he died at the age of 60.

Shortly after his death, Giovanni was decapitated and his brain and skull wound up on display at the Criminal Museum in Rome for over 70 years. Finally, in 2007 his remains were secretly buried in his hometown of Savoia di Lucania.