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Francesco Rismondo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 15 April 1885 Split |
| Died | August 10, 1915 (aged 30) Gorizia? |
| Allegiance | Italy |
| Service | Italian Army |
| Battles / wars | World War I |
| Awards | Silver Medal of Military Valour |
Francesco Rismondo (Split, 1885 – 1915) was an Austrian-born Italian irredentist and awarded military volunteer.[1]
Early life
[edit]Rismondo was born in Split-Spalato, when this town was in Austrian Dalmatia, from a very wealthy Dalmatian Italian family: his father was a ship-owner. He was a cycling enthusiast and as such also became president of the Associazione Veloce (Fast Club) in Split. After his business studies at the University of Graz, he practiced in UK and became manager in the agency of the Società di navigazione Dalmazia (Dalmatian Navigation Company), owned by his father.
Miltiary career
[edit]In 1915, a few weeks before the Italian intervention in World War I, Rismondo entered, with his young wife under a false name, in Kingdom of Italy and on June 16 he enlisted as a volunteer in the Italian Army to fight in war against Austria-Hungary. Initially Rismondo was chosen for an interpreter work thanks to his linguistic knowledge, but he insisted on being assigned to the front and it was thus that he was incorporated into the 8th cyclist battalion of the VIII Bersaglieri regiment and sent to the Karst front, where he distinguished himself on Monte San Michele in July 21.
Death
[edit]
His death is still unclear: reported missing by the Italians, he was probably wounded in a fight near Opatje Selo and fell prisoner by the Austrians. According to some sources, he was recognized as a deserter: he was betrayed by a snuffbox, with a dedication, and executed on the gallows in 10 August of the same year, probably in Gorizia; according to other sources, he would have tried to escape in a group of prisoners, during an Italian attack and for this reason he was killed by the guards in Opatija-Abbazia. However, his body was never found, nor a written document proving the possible death sentence; Gabriele D'Annunzio called him the Assumption of Dalmatia.
In any case, in the first years of post-war period the hypothesis of martyrdom on the gallows prevailed, which earned Rismondo the concession of the Silver Medal for military valor to memory.