In the night between 29 and 30 August 1706, exactly 314 years ago, takes place in Turin one of the best known (and idealized) acts of heroism in Italy ante litteram. The main character is Pietro Micca, a 29-year-old born in a small village that today falls within the province of Biella, Sagliano (later renamed "Scagliano Micca" in honor of Pietro). Of humble origins, Micca initially worked as a bricklayer, but then enlisted in the miners company of the Savoyard army, which he was engaged in at the time War of the Spanish Succession (1702-1714).
We are at the end ofsiege of Turin by the French army. That evening a team of transalpine grenadiers, with the aim of take the citadel, try to penetrate up to the internal square by passing through a tunnel. On their way, just before a stairway, the French find a barred door and begin to break it down. Right nearby, beyond the door, Micca is keeping watch together with a fellow soldier.
According to the chronicle of Giuseppe Maria Solaro della Margarita, the two Savoy soldiers hear the French and immediately understand that the chances of repelling them are zero. So they decide to detonate a mine to knock down a wall and prevent enemies from passing.
In the heat of the moment, Micca's companion fails to connect a slow-burning fuse to the explosive, which would have given the two time to escape. By now the French are about to break down the door. "Get out of there - Peter says to his fellow soldier - leave it to me, save yourself". After that pushes it away and sets fire to a very short length of fuse. Micca still tries to save herself, but time is too short: the explosion kills him along with the enemies.
As can be guessed, the reconstruction of these events is largely conjectural and many details do not find reliable evidence from the historical point of view. However, the episode has nonetheless become part of the collective memory, to the point that today the Municipality of Turin hosts it a museum and a street dedicated to the memory of Pietro Micca.
