Giacomo Segre

Giacomo Segre (b. Saluzzo, March 7, 1839; d. Chieri, October 5, 1894) was a Jewish Italian military officer during the Risorgimento.

Biography On September 20, 1870, Captain Segre participated in the Capture of Rome.

Mythologized role According to popular history, Pius IX had threatened to excommunicate whoever gave the order to open fire on the city. The threat did not deter the attack, however; the order did not come from Raffaele Cadorna but instead from Segre himself,

Segre did give a command to fire and contributed to the fall of Porta Pia, but his order was not the first. Rather, the artilleries of the 9th and 13th divisions opened fire at 5:15 am, and the 11th and 12th also attacked before Segre's reserves fired their first shots at 5:20 am.

Legacy Giacomo Segre's legacy is that of an important if unknown figure in the fight for Italian unification, particularly among the Jews of Italy. In 2021, the Jewish Museum of Rome opened an exhibit dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the role of Jewish soldiers in the breach of Porta Pia and the Capture of Rome.