66 - A senior cavalry officer’s helmet of the sicilian revolutionary army

A senior cavalry officer’s helmet of the sicilian revolutionary army dating: 1848 - 1849 provenance: Interim Goverment of Sicily, Heavy, polished iron skull (with small dents), featuring crossbar, spike and brass ball, supporting the original white horsehair. On the front, a large Trinacria emblem in embossed brass sheet. Brown fur turban. Scaled chin-strap with round rosettes, one scale missing. On the left side, a sheet metal cockade composed of three elements colored in the Italian tricolour. Green-lacquered leather visors and brown leather interior segmented liner. The Sicilian Revolutionary Army was established during the Sicilian Revolution of 1848–1849, which was one of the first uprisings of the great European revolutionary wave of 1848. The uprising broke out in Palermo on 12 January 1848, against the Bourbon monarchy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Under the provisional government led by Ruggero Settimo, the revolutionary forces comprised volunteer units, the National Guard, and newly organised military formations. Their aim was to defend the Sicilian independence and the restored constitutional institutions. However, following a military campaign by Bourbon troops, the revolutionary government was defeated in May 1849, and monarchical authority was re-established. The military equipment associated with this brief period is an interesting part of the history of the Italian Risorgimento. Provenance: descendants of a noble family from Varese. This extremely rare artefact corresponds perfectly to the drawings in the Cenni manuscript.