According to my grandfather, Erminio Iacobucci, the Iacobucci family was, at one time, very wealthy, influential, and politically active. In the 1830s, when Garibaldi first garnered allies toward the unification of Italy, the Iacobucci family of Pratola Peligna became active in the Garibaldi underground. They assisted these Garibaldi supporters in their movements through the Abruzzi (then Abruzzo and Molise were one regione). When they were discovered by the existing government, it was decided that they were too powerful to be executed. Their deaths would cause an uprising in the region.
Instead, each involved male and his family was moved to another comune. Only one of the involved sons was permitted to remain in Pratola Peligna. (My grandfather, Erminio Iacobucci, was a direct descendant of this male, Domenico Antonio Iacobucci.) This tactic was expected to break their power by diminishing their collective wealth ... which it did. My grandfather, Erminio Iacobucci, used to tell of sitting at his father's (Emidio Liberato Iacobucci) knee. His grandfather, Emidio Liberato Iacobucci, would remind him that he must recoup the family fortune.
Has any other Iacobucci descendant out there heard of this story? I'm trying to locate details, i.e., the exact names of the Iacobucci members involved, the comunes where they were relocated, and documentation of this event and, perhaps, the aftermath.
Thanks!
Carolyne L. Reeves