Three incidents by way of an introduction:

1 On the night of 24 August 1850 the families of Vincenzo and Luigi Monesi, who lived in a house at Ficarolo, a village on the northern banks of the Po, went to bed as usual at about 9 p.m. At eleven Luigi's son Francesco was woken by voices calling the name of his uncle, Vincenzo. He opened a window on the courtyard and saw six or seven men armed with shotguns. Vincenzo went to the window and the men immediately demanded 50 talleri. If not, they said, they would set fire to the Monesi's haystack. As Vincenzo Monesi replied that he had no money to give them, the leader of the band told one of his companions to set fire to a haystack with sulphur matches. The fire failed to take. The Monesi then offered the intruders salami, bread and wine, but their leader insisted on having money. Vincenzo threw down into the courtyard five or six Austrian lire. The men continued to threaten the families, a little more money was thrown down from the window, and with it two salamis and two cheeses. The Monesi then started to call for help as loudly as they could, and the intruders ran off.

Nine months later, on 17 April 1851, seven men were charged with this crime and faced an Austrian military court, presided over by Count A. Hoyos. All the men were local villagers, and they were all found guilty.