In the family of origin there had been convinced supporters of the Unification of Italy, who had played an active role during the Risorgimento. In particular, the great-grandfather Pasquale Gianniti (1830 - 1884), a doctor in law, in 1857, under the Bourbon government, had been restricted to the prisons of Oriolo for subversive activity, while his younger brother, Luigi Gianniti (1849 - 1870), had been Sergeant Major of the 40th Infantry Regiment and had fallen to Porta Pia on 20 September 1870.