Welcome to today's deep dive. If you've ever
wondered how certain institutions managed to
survive the most chaotic upheavals in human history,
well, you are in for a really fascinating ride
today. Oh, absolutely. Because we are taking
you on a journey through the incredibly turbulent
238 -year history of the Nunziatella Military
School. Which is located in Naples, Italy. Right.
And this isn't just a military academy. It is
this surviving monument to human resilience.
We've got a great stack of sources today, primarily
a very comprehensive Wikipedia article detailing
the school's entire evolution. Right, from its
founding all the way back in 1787 right up to
the present day. And it's dense. I mean, looking
at the timeline of Europe over the last two and
a half centuries, it's essentially a highlight
reel of chaos. It really is. But what really
struck me, the true aha moment here for you as
we get into this, is that this one single place
has outlasted absolute monarchs. It has survived
violent revolutions, fascist regimes, world wars,
and through all of that, it has produced both
top tier military generals, and wait for it,
an Oscar winning Disney animator. Which is such
a wild combination. Right. Okay, let's unpack
this. Because looking at this timeline, how does
a single school even begin to build that kind
of legacy? Well, it really begins with a desire
for independence. So if we go back to the 1700s,
Charles of Bourbon was the king of Naples. Okay.
And he had this very specific strategic problem.
He wanted to free the kingdom of Naples from
Spanish subjection. Because at the time, his
father, Philip V of Spain, and his mother, Elisabetta
Farnese, they exerted just a massive amount of
political and military influence over his region.
So he was basically a king who didn't fully control
his own kingdom. Exactly. And Charles realized
that to have a truly independent kingdom, you
need an independent, highly trained military
ruling class. I mean, you simply cannot rely
on outside forces to protect your sovereignty.
So if you're the king and you realize you can't
rely on outside forces, how do you actually build
a homegrown military class from scratch? Because
did he just set up a standard boot camp and start
handing out muskets? Not at all. And that is
where the story takes a really progressive turn.
He needed genuine leaders, right? Not just soldiers.
So the task eventually fell to a young lieutenant
in the military engineering corps named Giuseppe
Parisi. Parisi. Yeah. And the government essentially
sent Parisi on this massive research trip across
Europe to study how other countries were training
their officers. He was actually so brilliant
that he caught the attention of the emperor in
Austria. Really? Yeah. The emperor actively tried
to recruit him. But Parisi returned to Naples
in 1785 with an entirely radical idea for a new
academy. Radical in what way? Because military
academies usually just focus on, you know, military
things, tactics, drilling, physical endurance.
Exactly. But Parisi argued that military training
absolutely must be interconnected with civilian
education. He didn't just want to build a machine
of war. His whole philosophy was that the goal
wasn't just to make excellent officers, but to
make good citizens. What's fascinating here is
how that dual philosophy essentially birthed
the school's enduring motto, which is, I prepare
for life and weapons. I prepare for life and
weapons. I love that. It's brilliant. Parisi
understood that a military leader needs to understand
the society they are defending. You can't just
teach tactics and artillery. You have to teach
philosophy, mathematics, literature. Right. So
when the Nunciatella officially opened its doors
on November 18th, 1787, at the site of a former
Jesuit novitiate in Naples, the royal decree
explicitly stated that the school should firm
up philosophical reasoning in young people. Wow.
And train them in the social and political system.
I want to pause on that because I think there
is a huge takeaway in that for you listening
to this right now. Think about your own education
or your career. Usually we are taught to hyper
-specialize. Oh, totally. If you're an engineer,
you just do math. If you're a writer, you just
do words. But what Parisi realized back in 1787
is something we often forget today. To be truly
excellent at your job, you have to understand
the broader context of the world you live in.
You need both life and weapons. It was incredibly
progressive for the late 18th century. introducing
that kind of broad philosophical education to
young men who are also being trained in advanced
warfare, it created a highly combustible environment.
Oh, I can imagine. Teaching highly trained military
cadets about philosophy and politics during the
late 18th century. That sounds like a recipe
for rebellion. It really was. And here's where
it gets really interesting. Just over a decade
after the school opened, the French Revolution
was sending shockwaves across Europe. Now, looking
at the sources from this era, it's fascinating
to see how the school became a battleground for
the political extremes of the time. Right. The
sources just neutrally document this intense
tug of war between the right wing monarchists
and the left wing Republicans. And regardless
of where you stand politically today, the sources
make it clear that just seeing how these teenagers
were caught in the middle of these massive historical
movements is wild. It really is. The historical
facts show us a deeply divided institution. By
the late 1790s, some of the professors at the
Nunziatella, specifically the math teacher Carlo
Lauberg and the chemistry teacher Annabelle Giordano,
were actively spreading Jacobin ideas among the
cadets. Just for a quick refresher, when we say
Jacobin ideas, we're essentially talking about
the radical, anti -monarchy, pro -republic sentiments
that were fueling the French Revolution, right?
Exactly. They were teaching these kids to question
absolute... which is ironic considering an absolute
monarch built the school. Right. So when the
French Republican armies pushed the Bourbon troops
back to Naples in 1798, the Bourbon King Ferdinand
actually fled to Sicily. And the local royalist
population in Naples, a fiercely loyal group
known as the Lazari, they staged an armed resistance
against the French to defend the crown. Wait,
so the king flees, the local loyalists are fighting
in the streets to protect the monarchy. What
did the military students do? Well, this is the
double -edged sword of Parisi's curriculum. The
students at the Nunciatella had thoroughly absorbed
those revolutionary ideas from their math and
chemistry teachers. Right. So they actually sided
with the Republican revolutionaries. You're kidding.
No. Under the command of a captain, these teenage
cadets even repelled an assault by the loyalist
Lazari, who were trying to break into the school.
That is mind -blowing. The very school established
by the Bourbon King to protect the monarchy was
suddenly defending the newly proclaimed Neapolitan
Republic. The students were literally using the
military tactics the king paid for to fight the
king's supporters. Yeah. And some of their former
teachers, like Lomberg, even ended up leading
that new Republican government. Now, of course,
that republic was very short -lived. Sure. The
king eventually returned, the monarchy was restored,
and the school was nearly suppressed as punishment.
But that rebellious, fiercely independent streak
in the student body, that did not go away. Clearly
not. Because if we jump forward to the 1848 riots,
we see it happen again. There's this incredible
anecdote in the sources about a literature professor
named Francesco de Sanctis. Oh, this is a great
story. The sources mentioned that at first the
military students just laughed at him, which
makes sense. You have a bunch of tough, disciplined
military cadets and in walks this academic guy
trying to teach them grammar and poetry. Right.
He seemed completely out of place. But De Sanctis
possessed an incredible talent for teaching.
He didn't just teach dry grammar. He exposed
them to the great literary and philosophical
works of Europe. Which inherently contained liberal
and nationalistic ideas about freedom and self
-determination. Exactly. He eventually won them
over so completely that cadets from other classes
would actually sneak into his room just to hear
his lectures. Wait, military cadets skipping
their own classes to sneak into a literature
lecture? That is the mark of a legendary teacher.
Truly. And his influence was profound. When the
revolutionary movements of 1848 broke out a period
often called the Spring of Nations across Europe,
De Sanctis took part in the uprisings against
the Bourbon monarchy. And several of his fiercely
loyal students actually followed their literature
professor out of the classroom and straight into
the revolt. A literature professor leading military
cadets into a street revolution. I mean, can't
write a better movie script than that. But it
cost him dearly, didn't it? It did. The revolt
failed and De Sanctis ended up in a castle prison
for three years. Wow. And the Burden King at
the time, Ferdinand II, realized he had a massive
problem on his hands. Keeping hundreds of stubborn,
politically active teenagers right in the middle
of the capital city was a major security risk.
So what did he do? In 1855, he exiled the entire
school. He physically moved the Nunziatella out
of Naples to a town called Maddaloni. just to
quarantine them and keep them away from liberal
propaganda in the city. Wait, his solution to
political unrest was just to move the teenagers
to a different town? Did he really think that
would work? Yeah. Can't really quarantine ideas.
Oh, you can't. And they hated it there. When
Ferdinand died, his successor, King Francis II,
was finally persuaded to let the school return
to their historic home in Naples in 1859. And
the students were ecstatic. Oh, they planned
massive, jubilant celebrations, banquets, and
Thanksgiving masses for their scheduled return.
And this detail from the source material is just
perfectly comical. It highlights the sheer stubbornness
of youth and honestly, the pettiness of absolute
monarchs. He really does. The young King Francis
II was so annoyed by the news of these massive,
joyful celebrations that he actually sent a telegram
late in the afternoon on September 6th, delaying
their return by a single day, purely out of spite.
Yep. He ordered them to spend the seventh on
the road and return to the city quietly the next
day without any celebrations at all. It is a
slightly comical historical footnote, yes, but
it immediately precedes a deeply tragic era for
the school. Just a year later, the kingdom of
the two Sicilies, which was the sovereign state
that encompassed Naples and Sicily, was invaded
during a push for Italian unification. Right.
The events of 1860 and 1861 completely tore the
institution apart. Because Italian unification
wasn't just a peaceful treaty. It was a grueling,
violent process. Yeah. And looking at the sources.
This is what happens when civil wars erupt. They
fracture the very bedrock of a society's institutions.
Yeah. It really was brother against brother.
Exactly. We see Nunciatella alumni fighting on
both sides of this conflict. You have officers
who train in the exact same classrooms, running
the exact same drills, now leading opposing armies.
That's rough. A prime example from the sources
is the Bourbon commander Ferdinando Beneventano
del Bosco. He was fiercely fighting to defend
the old kingdom against his own fellow Nunciatella
alumnus. the Savoy general Enrico Cosenz, who
was fighting to unify Italy. It's heavy. But
what really stops you in your tracks when reading
these sources are the specific details about
the teenage cadets who were still enrolled at
the school during all of this. When the Bourbon
King fled Naples as the unification forces advanced,
the commander of the school immediately switched
to the new side, the Garibaldi side, and demanded
that all the current cadets swear loyalty to
the new regime. And this is where that concept
of honor and duty becomes so complicated. Many
of these young cadets refused. They felt so deeply
tied to the oath they had originally taken to
the king of Naples that they chose to flee the
school entirely. They made their way to join
the retreating Bourbon forces at the siege of
Gaeta, which was the monarchy's last major stronghold.
And when we look at the historical records, their
ages are just staggering. We are talking about
literal children. I mean, middle school and high
school aged kids fleeing to a war zone. The sources
mentioned two brothers, Antonio and Eduardo Rossi.
They were 16 and 14 years old. Then there was
Alfonso Scottie Douglas. He was only 11 years
old. Wait, 11? Yes. An 11 -year -old child following
his father to work on the fortress engineering
under heavy bombardment. That is just heartbreaking.
And then there's the story of Carlo Giordano.
He was just 17, and he had been orphaned only
a few months prior when his father, who was a
general, passed away. Carlo fled the Nunziatella
in October of 1860, made it to the siege of Gaeta,
and served as an artillery servant. The sources
document that he was tragically killed in a massive
explosion at his battery while the negotiations
for the surrender were already underway. It is
a profound reminder of the human cost behind
these sweeping historical events. These weren't
just names on a treaty. They were students. Yeah.
Following the unification of Italy, the newly
formed national government looked at the Ninziatella
with a great deal of distrust. It was seen as
a dangerous relic of the old regime, and they
actually downgraded it from a full academy to
a preparatory military college. But the sheer
quality of the education, the life and weapons
philosophy, and the resilience of its traditions
allowed it to survive. Yes. It went on to train
some of the highest -ranking officers of the
new Italian kingdom, and even train the designated
heir to the throne, the future king Vittorio
Emanuele III. So they survived the unification,
they rebuilt their reputation, and then almost
immediately they were thrust right into the meat
grinder of the First World War. Yes, and the
toll was devastating. When you walk into the
entrance hall of the school today, there is a
very poignant memorial known as Il Maso, which
translates to the boulder. Right. It's an actual
bloody rock that was brought down from the Venetian
Alps, meant to commemorate the 120 former cadets
who died in that specific conflict. And there
is one story attached to that boulder that really
embodies the intense brotherhood of this school.
The sources detail the story of a cadet named
Alessandro de Mondaco. He was a cadet sergeant
at the school during the war. He received news
that his father had been killed at the front.
Instead of withdrawing, he immediately rushed
to finish his exams, got his baccalaureate, and
voluntarily left for the war to avenge his father.
Two months later, he was killed in combat in
the Alps. The emotional weight of that loss is
captured in a tradition that followed, which
is incredibly moving. During the consecration
ceremony of that monument, a roll call of the
fallen was read aloud. For each name called,
a joint group of cadets would answer present.
But when they called Alessandro de Mandato's
name, his mother was actually in attendance.
She was so overcome with grief from losing both
her husband and her young son that she physically
couldn't speak. In that total silence, a young
cadet stepped forward from the ranks and answered
for her. To this day, when modern cadets pass
that boulder in the hallway, they offer a military
salute. It is deeply ingrained in the school's
culture. that the level of respect that transcends
generations. And as the timeline moves forward
into the 1920s and 30s, we hit the fascist era
in Italy. Now, again, just looking purely at
the historical facts presented in the source
material, the regime at the time heavily militarized
Italian society. Yes. So naturally, they placed
a massive amount of focus on prestigious military
schools like the Nunziatella to align with their
expansionist goals. Right. The sources impartially
report on how strictly the regime demanded total
loyalty and ideological conformity from the institutions
they controlled. For instance, in 1925, there
was a literature and philosophy professor at
the school named Floriano del Sicolo. And what
happened to him? Right. Because suddenly. The
war is over. And the newly formed post -war Italian
democracy is looking at this school that has
incredibly strong ties to the recently abolished
monarchy and strong ties to the defeated fascist
regime. Exactly. They almost abolished the school
entirely. They downgraded it. They literally
took away the students' uniforms and stuck them
in confined spaces while the main historical
building was occupied by British troops. It really
looked like the end of the line. It did. But
this is where the alumni network steps in. The
former students, the professors, they revolted
against the closure. They launched this massive
public protest. There's this incredibly dramatic
moment in the sources where the commander of
the school, Oliviero Prunus, actually demands
an audience with King Umberto II right before
the monarchy is officially abolished. Prunus
is standing there fighting for the school's life,
and he shouts at the king, Majesty, the nunciatella
must live. And it worked. The school was saved.
If we connect this to the bigger picture, the
survival of the Nunziatella post -World War II
is a direct testament to the core philosophy
Giuseppe Parisi instituted centuries earlier.
Because the school wasn't just producing soldiers
who only knew how to take orders. It was producing
highly educated citizens. It produced intellectuals,
lawyers, doctors, and influential politicians.
And that vast, diverse alumni network rallied
together across political lines to save their
alma mater. Which brings us to today. The modern
Red Manor, as the school is affectionately called
because of its distinctive red walls. And the
curriculum today is absolutely fascinating. It
really is. It operates essentially as an elite
civilian high school that is seamlessly mixed
with intense hands -on military training. Exactly.
You've got 16 -year -olds sitting in a 16th century
building studying classical Latin and Greek literature.
And then in the afternoon, they're heading to
a firing range to run tactical drills with Beretta
AR -7090 assault rifles. It's an incredible juxtaposition.
But because of that dual focus preparing for
life and weapons, they produce this wild variety
of alumni. Yes, they produce the chiefs of staff
of the Italian military, but they also produce
people like Stefano Dubé. The Disney animator.
Yes. He's a former cadet who went on to become
an incredibly successful animator, and he actually
won Academy Awards for his work on the Disney
movies Frozen and Big Hero 6. A guy who marched
in formation with an assault rifle helped design
Baymax. That is the Parisi philosophy in action.
It perfectly encapsulates the modern identity
of the school. It is an institution. deeply rooted
in a rigid tradition, but incredibly adaptable
to the modern world. And of course, those traditions
often border on the eccentric, which is exactly
what you would expect from hundreds of teenagers
living together in an ancient building. Oh, the
quirks are the best part. You have the intense
military discipline, but then you have things
like the legend of the ghost of St. Crispin.
Right. The story goes that a young cadet, supposedly
the son of a general, tragically died at the
school on the night of St. Crispin. So today,
Centuries later, the modern cadets honor his
memory by absolutely refusing to ever occupy
the first bed in the school's infirmary. It just
stays empty. No matter how crowded it gets, that
bed is for the ghost. It's a wonderful piece
of institutional folklore. And then you have
the class mottos, which show off that distinct
blend of classical education and teenage rebellion.
Right. Because the school is divided into classical
and scientific high school tracks, each specific
section gets to choose its own motto. Some are
deeply historical and profound, like Sturm und
Drang for one of the science classes. But then
another science class recently decided to change
their historical motto, which used to be a beautiful,
poetic line from Dante's Divine Comedy. And what
did they change it to? They changed it to the
song We Are the Champions by the band Queen.
Which is wonderfully subversive and exactly what
you would expect from high school students, even
those in a strict military academy. They are
still kids at the end of the day. So what does
this all mean? We've gone from the Bourbon Kings
trying to secure their borders to kids fighting
in 19th century sieges to modern teenagers quoting
Freddie Mercury and animating Disney princesses.
I think the Nunciatella serves as a living laboratory
of human history. Its true legacy isn't really
found in the specific wars its alumni fought,
because as we've seen today, they often fought
on opposite sides of those wars. That's very
true. The true legacy is in the philosophy of
the education itself. Giuseppe Parisi's brilliant
insight in 1787 was that balancing the humanities,
literature, philosophy, science with rigorous
discipline creates a well -rounded citizen. They
truly understand both life and weapons. They
understand what they are defending, not just
how to defend it. And I think there's a huge
practical takeaway in that for you listening
right now. Consider the value of intentionally
learning things completely outside your immediate
profession. If you are a software engineer, read
poetry. are an artist, study economics. Absolutely.
There is immense power and resilience in being
well -rounded. Just like a cadet studying both
artillery trajectories and the writings of Dante,
you become adaptable. You become capable of surviving
the shifts in your own industry or your own life.
This raises an important question, and it's something
I'd like to leave you with today to mull over
on your own. If a single institution can seamlessly
adapt its identity across absolute monarchies,
revolutionary republics, fascist regimes, and
a modern democracy without ever losing its core
sense of brotherhood, what does that say about
the true nature of human tradition versus political
ideology? That is a phenomenal thought to end
on. Tradition outlasting the turbulence. Thank
you so much for joining us on this deep dive
into the source material. We absolutely loved
unpacking this story for you, and we'll see you
next time.