Birthplace of Francesco Crispi

The city of Ribera has also been defined “Crispina” for being the birthplace of Francesco Crispi on the 4th of October 1818. The house where he was born still exists today, situated on the corner between the road of the same name and Corso Umberto. Its noteworthy size and structure interpret the nineteenth century bourgeois stability well. In the beginning of the 1990’s it was consolidated and restructured. Crispi only spent the first few years of his childhood in the house, after which he was sent to Villafranca and to Palermo for education purposes. After obtaining a law degree he moved to Naples where he became interested in politics. He was one of the leading advocated in the 1848 Sicilian Revolution and in the Expedition of the Thousand. Following the Unity of Italy he was four times Government Prime Minister and simultaneously Minister of Foreign and Internal Affairs. His political career ended in 1896 with the defeat of the colonial Italian troops at the battle of Adwa. He died in Naples on the 11th of August 1901.