He appears in several works of Alexandre Dumas, including The Last Cavalier: Being the Adventures of Count Sainte-hermine in the Age of Napoleon, not published until 2007[2] and in Washington Irving's short story "The Inn at Terracina".

[3] The nickname "Fra Diavolo" came about due to an old Itrano custom: Until early in the twentieth century Itrani boys and girls who had recently recovered from serious illnesses were dressed as monks on the second Sunday after Easter, for a procession in honor of St. Francis of Paola, the patron of sick children.

On one of these solemn occasions little Michele, who was apparently a handful to begin with, proved so naughty that someone called him "Fra Diavolo" (Brother Devil) which stuck.

[4] The notion that Pezza "was born of low parentage" has received wide circulation but is hardly accurate; it forms part of a hostile tradition derived from French propaganda.

As a young man he secured employment as a courier for the Neapolitan Royal Mail, making the 240 km (149 mi) round trip between Terracina and Naples twice a week for 50 ducats a year, a considerable sum, while becoming intimately familiar with the local terrain, which had a reputation for brigandage, knowledge that would later serve him in good stead.

On 26 December, reinforced by some irregulars hastily recruited by Pezza, the regiment ambushed elements of the French "Polish Legion", touching off a three-day skirmish.

But the French movement had been detected by Pezza's irregulars, who were patrolling the hills, and they guided the Neapolitan troops safely out of the encirclement, so that they could fall back on the great fortress of Gaeta, about 15 miles down the coast.

[12] The French pressed on, and over the next few weeks, despite unusually cold and icy weather, overran the rest of Naples, capturing the city itself on 22 January 1799 and proclaiming the Parthenopaean Republic.

The invaders then shot their prisoners, plundered the town a bit, proclaimed a new age of freedom, erected a "Liberty Tree", and held a ball.

French atrocities were so blatant that their commander in Naples, General Jean Étienne Championnet, was sacked by Guillaume-Charles Faipoult, one of the government representatives on mission, and subsequently imprisoned.

[14] Irregular resistance had begun almost as soon as the invaders entered the country, and French atrocities only served to send more young men into the hills to join the insurgency.

Dubbed la Armata cristiana della Santa Fede ("the Christian Army of the Holy Faith"), this horde made up for its lack of training and equipment with enthusiasm, ferocity, and suicidal courage.

His massa ("band") quickly grew to some 4,000 men, including his three brothers and the scions of a number of the leading families of Itri, such as Pasquale-Maria Nofi, who served as his adjutant with the rank of lieutenant.

On one occasion he slipped into heavily occupied Fondi in the guise of a priest — thus becoming once again "Fra Diavolo" — to cut down the "Liberty Tree" which the French had planted there, replacing it with a cross that still stands.

He even harassed French forces holding Gaeta, the great fortress dominating the northwestern route into the Kingdom of Naples, ambushing supply trains (once making off with 1,400 sheep) and couriers.

[18] The city of Naples was liberated from the French in June, Gaeta was recaptured at the end of July by royal troops and Pezza's men, aided by the British fleet.

[19] Nevertheless, for his services, Pezza was made a colonel in the army, ennobled as the Duke of Cassero, granted an annual pension of 2,500 ducats — making him one of the richest men in the district — and even given a lock of the queen's hair.

He settled down near Itri with his wife, Fortunata Rachele Di Franco, a local beauty whom he had married in July 1799, when she was just 18, and he was en route to the liberation of Rome.

The Neapolitan Army, with barely 13,000 men available for mobile operations, fell back on Calabria as the French quickly occupied frontier areas and pressed on.

Reynier sent a regiment ahead to seize Gaeta by a coup de main, but the fortress, commanded by Louis, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal, resisted stoutly.

[23] Shortly afterwards, Pezza was recalled to Sicily to gather more forces, and in April joined an expedition to reinforce Gaeta that was led by the British admiral Sir Sidney Smith, one of Napoleon's most inveterate foes.

Hesse-Philippsthal gave Pezza command of a band of irregulars who were landed along the coast near the mouth of the Garigliano River, about 20 miles southeast of Gaeta, with instructions to stir up guerrilla resistance in the French rear.

Sir Sidney quickly cleared Pezza's name, however, and for a few weeks he conducted seaborne raids against French outposts along the coast from Ponza and the other islands in the Gulf of Gaeta.

Although on 14 August, with the support of Sir Sydney's ships, Pezza managed to capture Fort Licosa from the enemy, that very same day the French relieved Cosenza.

Laurel and Hardy starred as "Stanlio" and "Ollio" in the 1933 feature film The Devil's Brother (sometimes titled as Fra Diavolo) based on Auber's opera.