BANDIT, a word originally signifying a "banished " or outlawed person; then one who, because outlawed, wages war against civilized society; and finally a highway robber. The banditi, or banditti, formed in Italy in earlier times, as it were, a separate conimunity or guild, who submitted to their own .stringent laws, carried on both open and secret war with civilized society, and kept up a certain romantic idea of honor. By means of the severe measures which were adopted in 1820 by the papal government against the banditti and their abettors, their haunts were broken up. Those who still occasionally disquiet the frontiers of Naples are in general people settled on the spot, who regard robbery and murder as equally a branch of their trade with agriculture. Peter the Calabrian, one of the most famous B. chiefs in 1812, assumed the titles of "emperor of the mountains, king of the woods, and lord of the highroads from Florence to Naples." The government of Ferdinand L found themselves obliged to conclude treaties with them. The banditti must be distinguished from common robbers, who were called inaltirenli. In later times, the banditti were joined by adventurers of all kinds, to such an extent, that the Austrian troops who occupied Naples were obliged to make frequent expeditions against them. In Sicily, the banditti are most numerous in
the Val Demone. They formerly acquired so much power there, that the prince of Villafranca, as a piece of policy, declared himself their patron, and treated them with much confidence. In the years 1841-43, political fugitives united with robbers and adventurers of all kinds in the Abruzzi, Calabria, and z and since then they have never been entirely extirpated. The revolution of 1848-49 added greatly to their numbers, and in several districts of Italy, especially in the states of the church, between Ferrara and Ancona, they reached an unheard of degree of boldness, notwithstanding the Austrian army of occupation. Under the command of one Be]lino (known by the name of " I1 Pass...store"), a daring and talented man, who died in Mar. 1851, they kept the country in terror, and even burned several villages to the ground. They also carried on a real guerrilla warfare against the military forces of the country. Recent events in Italy, have, it is said, recalled numbers of these banditti to a more honorable life. SCC CAMORRA.