Guglielmo Oberdan, born in Trieste in 1858 as Wilhelm Oberdank, is a central historical figure for the city and for the Italian irredentist movement during the Asburgo period.
At birth, he was not recognized by his natural father, a Venetian officer in the Austrian army, and was registered in the civil registry with his mother's German surname, Oberdank. His Italianization of the name to "Oberdan" marked his ideological and political adherence to Italian identity in a territory then dominated by the Impero Austro-Ungarico.
An engineering student, in 1878 he fled to Rome to avoid Austrian military service, demonstrating from a young age a clear opposition to Asburgo domination. His adherence to irredentism was consolidated in 1882, the year in which, disturbed by the death of Garibaldi and influenced by Matteo Renato Imbriani, founder of the Italia Irredenta movement, he developed the plan for an assassination attempt on the imperial chancellor Francesco Giuseppe I.
The Historical Context
Trieste as a cultural and political crossroads on the border, a theater of national tensions. On the occasion of the celebrations for the 500 years of Trieste's dedication to the Asburgo Crown, Oberdan planned to assassinate the emperor as a sign of protest and to ignite the Italian national cause.
- Accompanied by Donato Ragosa, he attempted to clandestinely enter Austrian territory carrying two "alla Orsini" bombs
- Betrayed by two false irredentists and discovered and arrested in Ronchi
The Trial and the Death
The trial and the death took place in the Caserma Grande of Trieste: Oberdan was accused of high treason, desertion and conspiracy.
- Despite passionate international protests, he was sentenced to death
- Hanged on 20 December 1882 in the inner courtyard of the Caserma itself
Significance and Historical Memory
For the Asburgo impero Oberdan was a traitor, while for the Italian irredentist movement he became a martyr and national symbol of the Risorgimento.
- Whose figure was strongly evoked during the Prima Guerra Mondiale and afterwards, as an emblematic example of the struggle for the annexation of Trieste to Italy
His story deeply reflects the complicated sociocultural and political intertwinings of the late XIX century in Trieste, a city where different national identities confronted and clashed, in an architectural, social and cultural context marked by Austro-Hungarian domination and the consequent Trasformazioni in view of the first post-war period.