[3] Incited by oppressive behaviour by the French (confiscating the assets of Verona's citizens and plotting to overthrow the city's local government), it began on the morning of 17 April 1797, the second day of Easter: the enraged population succeeded in defeating more than a thousand French soldiers in the first hour of fighting, forcing them to take refuge in the town's fortifications, which the mob then captured by force.

The revolt ended on 25 April 1797 with the encirclement and capture of the town by 15,000 soldiers, who then forced it to pay a huge fine and hand over various assets, including artwork.

The Pasque Veronesi were the most important episode in a vast anti-French and anti-Jacobin insurgency movement which arose throughout the Italian peninsula from 1796 to 1814 – other important episodes included the campaigns of the Armata della Santa Fede which, guided by cardinal Ruffo, succeeded in reconquering the kingdom of Naples, the actions of the Viva Maria band in Tuscany and Liguria, and Andreas Hofer's victories in the County of Tyrol.

Alessandro Ottolini, podestà of Bergamo and a patriot who had raised 10,000 men for the defence of the Bergamasca Nation,[8] at the end of December had to accept general Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers's request to billet French troops inside the city, since without soldiers they could not have resisted the French force and since (due to Venetian neutrality) the city could not consent to an attack.

The next phase of Napoleon's plan assumed that the region's democratisation would lead to the administration passing into the hands of the Jacobin Lombards, who would then create a republic (comprising the territories as far as Verona, or even Padova) allied to France.

The provveditore Battaia arrived at Verona on 22 March, and immediately called a meeting of the council, which included several other military leaders (the conte Pompei, Ernesto Bevilacqua, Antonio Maffei, Marcantonio Miniscalchi, Ignazio Giusti, Francesco Emilei and Alessandro Ottolini).

Battaia urged caution, but conte Emilei noted that passive resistance had already lost them Brescia, and that Verona's citizens were ready to take up arms against the Jacobin Lombards.

Battaia, realising that many of those present were of Emilei's opinion, changed his mind and so it was unanimously decided to provide for the defence of Verona's borders, nominally against the local Jacobins but in effect also to prevent Napoleon's own force returning into Italy.

Writing to the commander of the French troops at Verona, general Antoine Balland, he stated: La Nazione Veronese,[8] in data 20 marzo 1797, per bocca dei legittimi rappresentanti i corpi della stessa, rappresenta al Cittadino Comandante le truppe francesi in questa che attrovandosi pienamente felice sotto il paterno ed amoroso Veneto Governo, non può che raccomandarsi alla magnanimità della Nazione Francese, onde nelle attuali circostanze sia preservata nella sua presente costituzione, dal quale sincero e costante sentimento ritirar giammai non la potrà che la forza.The substance of the letter was a request for authorisation to defend Verona's boundaries against aggressors, which the French general was forced to consent to, since if he did not the only way they could officialice their arrival would be through Venice's authority over her territories.

Bonaparte agreed with Balland's decision, and informed the Venetian senate that French troops would not intervene and that he was hurt by how much success they had had at Bergamo and Brescia.

On 23 March news reached Verona that 500 Jacobin soldiers headed for Peschiera del Garda or Valeggio sul Mincio had set out from Brescia – the officials and troops rushed to take up their positions.

The letter roused the population's enthusiasm, and they succeeded in raising the Leone di San Marco flag and forcing the Jacobins to flee the city.

A second encounter saw a victory by the inhabitants of Salò, thanks to an attack on the three sides of the mountain range of the val Sabbia: among the enemy troops, 66 were killed and several taken prisoner, including several Jacobin leaders.

General Charles Edward Kilmaine (Irish in origin, but then serving in the French army) gathered 7,000 men at Milan[15] and left for Brescia, along the way attacking the rebelling villages and forcing them to fund his expedition.

In the meanwhile 400 Poles marched towards Legnago, the French artillery moved to lake Garda, enemy movements were sighted near Cerea where Bevilacqua was positioned, and on the road for Vicenza was posted Giambattista Allegri.

During the night between 16 and 17 April 1797, a manifesto was pinned up in the town's streets, apparently signed by Francesco Battaia and inciting Verona to rebel against the French and local collaborators with them.

[17] The forgery could easily have been unmasked – the manifesto had already been published in March in some newspapers, like the Termometro Politico and the Monitore Bolognese, and Battaia was at that time in Venice not Verona.

The Venetian representatives had all copies taken down, and replaced them with a new manifesto denying the former one and urging the population to remain calm, but now the revolt had already been primed, and in the afternoon diverse brawls were already breaking out.

The French soldiers for their part tried to provoke the crowd, around 2 pm arresting a Venetian artilleryman, while at the same time a brawl broke out in a tavern in via Cappello between a Frenchman and a Croatian.

This French action was caused by the commanders' safety and ability to monitor the revolt easily, feeling it would be a useful pretext to occupy the town officially.

Balland paused the bombardment (even if battle continued around Castel Vecchio, it having been isolated from the castelli on the hills and was thus unable to gain information on the course of events).

Fearful of how the situation would develop, in the meeting between 17 and 18 April the governors decided to withdraw to Vicenza, and before their departure ordered the troops not to participate in the battle.

[22] On the 18th, with the governors already set out for Vicenza, Emilei made preparations to get to Venice to contact the Senate, while in Verona Maffei and other military leaders sought to organise the army and the populace, since provveditore Bartolomeo Giuliari alone was unable to bear the gravity of the situation.

The news of the flight by the two provveditori irritated the populace, who continued to fight in an uncoordinated manner, whilst several peasants and mountain-dwellers arrived from Contado, some of whom were armed.

Giuliari ordered the commanders to give weapons to those from Contado who had none, and produce a constitution for a provisional regency,[23] which then put itself in contact with general Balland, stipulating a three-hour truce elsewhere even if the battle around Castel Vecchio continued.

The principal objective became the capture of Castel Vecchio, to which end the people transported two artillery pieces from bastione di Spagna to porta Borsari and the roof of the teatro Filarmonico, on which wooden scaffolds were installed.

In the meantime other mortars taken from the enemy were used to besiege the castello, while from Bassano del Grappa conte Augusto Verità arrived at the head of 200 Austrian prisoners.

This unleashed all hell around the castello, whilst the timings of the revolt were rung out from torre dei Lamberti, which the French unsuccessfully tried to demolish with cannon fire.

Meanwhile, a French scouting party approached porta San Zeno, which withdrew immediately when fired on by cannon mounted on the city walls.

Their advice was not given in vain and the multitudes were persuaded by the voices of reason and necessity: you pay if you don't abandon your defensive posts, keep yourselves calm, and no longer put forth cannon fire or gunshots.