"Naples, July 2, 1857

The public mind is in such an excited state that in speaking of the recent attempt, and of the actual position of the provinces, it is difficult to distinguish truth from falsehood, or even the probable from the improbable. As I have already stated, a telegraphic order arrived late Sunday night from Gaeta that a number of steam frigates should be got ready with all speed. The officers of the Marine were at San Carlo , and the fact of their being called out of the theatre created much sensation and spread general alarm. All hands were at work in the arsenal during the night, and on the following morning two steamers were despatched to Gaeta"

This is the beginning of a long reportage that the correspondent of "The Times" of London  in Naples sends to his readers in Britain under the heading "The Italian insurrection" .

What is going on in the Reign of the Two Siciles, as the kingdom of Naples was  called at the time?

An attempt to bring about  a general insurrection for political freedom and unification of Italy is being waged by an expedition of 300 volunteers, lead by a former Neapolitan officer, Carlo Pisacane,  landing at Sapri " which is a  small village on the Gulf of Policastro,  close to the provinces of Calabria, Basilicata, and Salerno, and admirably chosen for such an attempt.Once disembarked, the small force pushed on into the interior. "At the time, this attempt had big echo in European public opinion and in the British one in particular, as it viewed with great simpathy the Italian movement for independence. 

The hope to ignite a liberal insurrection in the Reign of the Two Sicilies rested on the active liberal leaders of the area, foremost among them Vincenzo Padula, who was born in the house "CasaPadula", in a family already renowned for its liberal ideas. As many bright young people at the time he was sent to study in the local seminar of Teggiano in the absence of a school system.