Le Giornate della Carboneria

In the early nineteenth century, the tragedy of the “Carbonari della Fratta” took place, the reason why our city is included in all homeland histories, as the first example of Austrian repression of aspirations for freedom and national emancipation (1818).
The premise for activating resolutions of national union and redemption was facilitated by the presence on site of country residences of noble citizens, in contact with notables and exponents of the local and surrounding bourgeoisie, with the addition of strong cultural traditions more acute during the period Napoleonic.
In memory of the sacrifice of the Carbonari, in 1867, the first in Veneto to be freed by the Austrians after the third war of independence, a monument by the Veronese sculptor Grazioso Spazzi was erected.

The Municipality of Fratta Polesine has been promoting for years a project to enhance the historical – artistic – cultural heritage and a program to encourage tourist visits to its territory.
As part of this project, a cultural event called “The Days of Carboneria” has been organized since 2002: the revaluation and enhancement of a high historical-patriotic moment at the dawn of the Risorgimento, which had the “Carbonari della Fratta” as protagonists in 1818 On this occasion, the importance of their action in national history is underlined, the first example of Austrian repression of the aspirations of freedom and independence of the Italians.
It should be remembered that Fratta Polesine was the place where the sectarian phenomenon of the Carbonari lived its most tragic moment and saw the involvement of local representatives such as Count Antonio Fortunato Oroboni, Antonio Villa, Marco Fortini and del Polesine as Felice Foresti , Giovanni Bacchiega and Costantino Munari, who were imprisoned and some died in the fortress of Spielberg and Ljubljana, as recalled by Silvio Pellico in “My prisons”.

The program of “The Days of Carboneria” is an event held every year on the second weekend of November.
Among the various events, the Carbonaro Banquet, a dinner with a period menu and dramatization with costumed actors and the historical re-enactment held on Sunday in the town square with actors and dozens of extras, stands out in particular.