Cdv portrait of a young Papal Zouave in full marching order by Fratelli D’Alessandri.
Atelier address: Via del Babuino 65, Rome.
Activity: from 1856 to 1950.
Date: between 1861 and 1865 (when the atelier moved to Via del Corso 10 – 12, Rome).
The Papal Zouaves (in Italian Zuavi Pontifici) were an infantry force formed in defence of the Papal States. This force evolved out of a unit formed by Christophe Léon Louis Juchault de Lamoricière in 1860, the Franco-Belgian Tirailleurs. On 1 January 1861 the unit was renamed the Papal Zouaves, name introduced by Frédéric François Xavier Ghislain de Mérode. The Almoner became Mgr. Edouard de Woelmont.
The Zuavi Pontifici were mainly young men, unmarried and Roman Catholic, who volunteered to defend Pope Pius IX and the Papal States. They wore a similar style of uniform to that of the French Zouaves but in grey with red trim. A grey and red kepi was sometimes substituted for the North African fez.
All orders were given in French and the unit was commanded by a Swiss Colonel, M. Allet. Nonetheless, the regiment was truly international, and by May 1868 numbered 4,592 men. At that time the unit was composed of 1,910 Dutch, 1,301 French, 686 Belgians, 157 Romans and Pontifical subjects, 507 Canadians, 1,400 Irish, 87 Prussians, 50 English, 32 Spaniards, 22 Germans from beyond Prussia, 19 Swiss, 14 Americans, 14 Neapolitans, 12 Modenese, 12 Poles, 10 Scots, 7 Austrians, 6 Portuguese, 6 Tuscans, three Maltese, two Russians and one volunteer each from the South Sea Islands, India, Africa, Mexico, Peru, Circassia.
A British volunteer, Joseph Powell, noted in his account of his service with the Papal Zouaves, Two Years in the Pontifical Zouaves that at least three "blacks" and one person from China served in the Zouaves.
Between February 1868 and September 1870 the number of Canadian volunteers, mainly from the francophone and predominantly Catholic province of Quebec, rose to seven contingents numbering some 500 men in total – with a contingent of 114 turning back to Canada because news had reached them of the surrender of the Papal States in September 1870.
The unit was very efficient against the brigandage and demonstrate its bravery in many occasions such as the Battle of Mentana. One thousand five hundred Papal Zouaves assisted in the notable Franco/Papal victory at this battle, fought on 3 November 1867 between French-Papal troops and Italian volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi.
In his report to the Pope, the commander of the Papal forces, General Kanzler, praised the elan of the Zouaves, citing a determined bayonet charge as a particular example.
The Zouaves suffered the brunt of the fighting, sustaining 81 casualties in the battle, including 24 killed (the Papal forces suffered only 30 dead in total) and 57 wounded. The official French report of the battle prepared by the French commander, General de Failly, also cited the bravery of the unit. The youngest victim, aged seventeen, was English Zouave Julian Watts-Russel.
The Zouaves also played a role in the final engagements against the forces of the newly united Kingdom of Italy in September 1870, in which the Papal forces were outnumbered almost seven to one. The Zouaves fought off enemy lancers on the 13th, withdrew with Papal artillery under heavy fire on the 20th and made preparations for a counterattack against the Garibaldians before being told of the surrender, whereupon they destroyed their weapons.
Several Zouaves were executed or murdered by the Italian forces following the surrender, including a Belgian officer who refused to give up his sword.
After the Capture of Rome by Victor Emmanuel II in 1870, the French contingent of the former Papal Zouaves served the government of National Defence in France during the Franco-Prussian War. Renamed as the Volontaires de l'Ouest (Volunteers of the West) but retaining their grey and red Papal uniforms, the Zouaves fought the Prussians and their other German allies outside Orléans, with 15 killed or wounded between 11 and 12 October 1870, and also engaged the enemy at Patay. Numbering about 1,800 men, the experienced former Papal Zouaves fought with distinction at the Battle of Loigny where they lost 216 men while covering the retreat of other French units. The Volontaires were disbanded after the entrance of Prussian troops into Paris.
More about Fratelli D’Alessandri:
Father Antonio D’Alessandri (L’Aquila, 1818 – Rome, 1893) and his brother Paolo Francesco D’Alessandri (L’Aquila, 1824 – Rome, 1889) were the founders of one of the most famous ateliers in Rome and in Italy.
The two brothers moved from L'Aquila to Rome in 1850 and started to travel across Italy and Europe in order to study photography. As a result, they opened their atelier in Rome in 1856. It was the first atelier ever opened in Rome.
Father Antonio was very talented and the atelier became very popular among the Roman Society and Curia. Pope Pius IX and his court, cardinals, bishops, nobles, soldiers and the King and Queen of Naples in exile were portrayed in the atelier. Its reputation spread soon in whole Europe.
In 1862, the brothers photographed the camp of the Papal Zouaves and five years later they photographed the battlefields of Monterotondo and Mentana.
In 1870, they portrayed the Bersaglieri over the ruins of Porta Pia after the fall of Rome and the atelier gained the hostility of the Roman Curia which revoked all the privileges granted.
The many arguments between the Roman Curia and Father Antonio became so exasperating he decided to leave the priesthood.
The atelier was already successful and didn’t need any privileges of the Roman Curia. They continued to portray the Roman Society, from the poor to the nobles, for many years until their deaths. Tito and Renato, son and grandson of Paolo Francesco, took over the atelier and ran it until 1950, when it was definitively closed.
