When, at times, they are dealt with, an anti-insurgent bias is the general norm. Moreover, Viglione has held numerous conferences and talks in a number of Italian cities, including one at the Senate in Rome. After a conference in Milan, the newspaper Il Giornale published a full-page report, with an impressive map of Italy pinpointing some hundred flashpoints of the uprisings. Not surprisingly, many of the anti-revolutionary revolts were led by priests and religious laymen, since the Catholic faith was also under attack. The politically correct view holds that the man responsible for the merciless repression of the Neapolitan Jacobins was Cardinal Ruffo, who, after successfully leading a popular counterrevolution from the southernmost tip of Calabria, restored the Bourbons to power in Naples.
Contemporary historians disagree.
They contend that Cardinal Ruffo pledged to save the lives of those revolutionaries who had surrendered, but Lord Nelson disavowed the prelate's pledge and hanged them all. Apparently, Nelson acted upon the direct order of King Ferdinand of Bourbon, a close ally of the British Crown who had fled to Palermo with part of his fleet before the advance of Napoleon's troops. He strictly adhered to the Bourbons' will, demonstrating a monarchist zeal probably greater than the monarch would have showed himself. Alberto Carosa is the editor of Famiglia Domani Flash, a pro-family newsletter published in Rome.