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Carlo Pisacane "emigrated" not as suggested as a result of his having become imbued by Mazzinian ideas but because he "eloped" with Enrichetta di Lorenzo, the wife of a cousin. He was with the French Foreign Legion in Algeria, form where he went first to Piedmont and joined the Piedmontese Army (briefly) before going to Rome on the declaration of the Republic. He agreed to lead the Sapri expedition due to his belief that the South was ripe for rebellion and that it would be the spark to light the revolutionary fire throughout Italy. His views at this time were not particularly Mazzinian who for Pisacane was to ready to underestimamte the need for social change, but both men felt it was necessary to act to prevent the disintegration of the republican opposition in the face of Peidmontese expansion. Which it actually probably precipitated Garibaldi had declined the invitation to lead the expedition, which initially was intended to first release an altogether different group of prisoners (Settembrini; Salvemini). The ground was meant to have been prepared by the local Neapolitan Secret Committee for a contemporaneous rising in Naples and to have prepared the ground also in Basilicata (Sapri is now in Campania 8km from the border with Basilicata. However, was there not only no waiting siupport, but the authorities were able to persuade the locals that Pidsacane & his 300 were a group of bandits intent on looting. Another rumour was that they were Murattists. The Bourbon troops were able basically to stand by a watch while the local militias and peasants tore the band to pieces.

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