The name Scippa has long been a synonym for power and prestige in Grumo. Documents dating back to 1737 record the family’s vast estates, second only to the lands of the feudal lords. At the beginning of the 1700s, Domenico Scippa brought the honour of nobility to the family: with his own money, he put together a cavalry battalion and fought alongside the Austrians in the war of Succession against the Spanish who were fighting for the Kingdom of TheTwo Sicilies, thus obtaining from Charles VI a noble title and privileges which would change the destiny of his family. The Scippa family’s greatness was not just in lands and titles however; at the end of the 1700s, the brothers Giovanni and Michele chose a life of danger to fight for the values of freedom and enrolled with the Carbonara movement in Grumo.

On 2^nd July 1820 in Monteforte Irpino there was a great uprising against the Bourbons and Giovanni financed and led a group of volunteers from Grumo. He then fought and helped Morelli and Silvati, the heads of the uprising, flee to Greece. That act cost him exile and persecution but never abated his fervour. When he came back to Grumo after ten years, he joined the Giovane Italia movement, he became mayor, and supported the Bandiera brothers, paying for his belief in freedom with imprisonment and mistreatment. Even after betrayal and blackmail, Giovanni continued to help political exiles until his death in 1859. Two years later, the Italy he had dreamed of became a reality. The prestige of the Scippa family endured, not only in politics but through civil and religious figures, works of art and portraits that preserve the family memories. Traces still remain today in town archives and churches, of this family whose destiny was so intertwined with that of the nation, leaving a legacy of courage and freedom to the town of Grumo.