Pepe, Guglielmo

Born Feb. 13, 1783, in Squillace, Calabria; died Aug. 8, 1855, in Turin. Leader in the Italian liberation movement; general of the Neapolitan Army.

In the Neapolitan bourgeois revolution of 1820–21, Pepe joined the insurgents and took command of the Constitutional Army. In the Revolution of 1848–49 in Italy, he was sent at the head of the Neapolitan forces to help Piedmont in the war with Austria. Pepe refused to submit to the command of the Neapolitan king, who soon recalled his troops from the Austrian front. With 2,000 volunteers, Pepe went to the aid of revolutionary Venice, which was besieged by the Austrian Army. He served as commander in chief of the Venetian Army and then as chairman of the Military Commission, which directed the defense of Venice. After the fall of Venice in 1849, he lived mainly abroad.