After the death of his father Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I prepared a tour of the major cities of Italy to present himself as the new sovereign.

The royal entourage planned to visit Naples, although there was a heated argument in the city council about the high cost that would be incurred on its reception.

While the king was on Largo della Carriera Grande, he approached his carriage, faking a supplication; suddenly, he pulled out a knife and attacked him yelling, "Long live Orsini!

[6] Only the last verse is known, of which this paraphrase has been handed down: "Con la berretta d'un cuoco faremo una bandiera" (With the cook's cap, we'll make a flag).

Some newspapers directed baseless charges against Passannante: Verona's L'Arena and Milan's Corriere della Sera portrayed him as a brigand who had killed a woman in the past, while in a lithograph published in Turin, it was reported that his father was a camorrista.

In a sign of forgiveness, on the order of the monarch's counsellors, Passannante's hometown was forced to change its name to Savoia di Lucania, by a royal decree on 3 July 1879.

He claimed that the ideas of Risorgimento had been betrayed and that the government was indifferent to the impact on already poor people of increases in the flour tax.

He was imprisoned in Portoferraio on the island of Elba, off the Tuscan coast, in a small and dark cell below sea level, with no toilet facilities and in complete isolation.

After an examination of the prisoner by Professors Serafino Biffi and Augusto Tamburini, who found him in very poor condition, the anarchist was transferred to the asylum of Montelupo Fiorentino.

In 1998, the then Italian Minister of Justice, Oliviero Diliberto, authored a decree allowing for the displacement of his remains to Savoia di Lucania, but it was not acted on until 2007.

On the night of 10 May 2007, the remains of Passannante were taken to Savoia di Lucania and buried secretly, with the presence only of Rosina Ricciardi, mayor of the town; an undersecretary of Vito De Filippo, governor of Basilicata; and a journalist of La Nuova Del Sud.