Dolcino and Apostolic 
HISTORY IN BRIEF
Year 1300: Year of Jubilee and universal forgiveness. Forgiveness for all the criminals, but not for Gherardino Segarelli, which is placed at the stake in Parma. Her crime? Having given birth to a movement of "Apostolic Brethren". In about 1260, the humble Gherardino had asked to be admitted to the convent of Friars Minor (Franciscans) in Parma. Permission denied. Then he sells his small house and its small garden, throws the money thus collected to the poor (just as he did St. Francis), and begins a new life based on a few key concepts: the imitation of Christ ("follow the naked Christ naked"), the rejection of the possession and accumulation (hence the abject poverty), and therefore the alms in a wandering existence, in the belief that only such an existential reality could play in the right way the message of the Gospel. E 'refusal, put into practice, the route taken by the Church of Rome (possession, wealth, power).
Gherardino followers begin to flow (which, however, always refused to be considered "head", in homage to a full design community and anti-hierarchical), and the popular consensus is growing gradually, so that the ranks are swelling of the Apostles and many, men and women participating in this movement. Gherardino in its simplicity, is a great communicator: the adherents of the movement are deprived of their clothes and wearing a white tunic (the only thing I have), they refuse even, almsgiving, bread unnecessary that can not be consumed immediately He presents himself in the public square at the breast of a woman like a newborn baby (to symbolize the rebirth of the Christian spirit in a new era of total purity), is preaching in church even children. In short, the content of the message of the Apostles (which are also called "minimum" to mark the difference with the minor-Franciscans who are were supplemented, after betraying the teachings of their founder, Francis of Assisi, in the mechanisms of power-rich church of Rome), and the forms of preaching gradually get a huge success and popular support, to the extent that people abandon the Catholic rites for mass flow in the "sermons" of the Apostles. Gherardino also sends a different message to deliver Apostolic in distant lands.
This huge success (recognized by the most influential Catholics of the historical sources) can not be tolerated by the Roman church: the mild Gherardino (full peace) is imprisoned, some apostles are burned at the stake, and finally, in 1300, Gherardino itself is burned alive in the public square, in the name of the Lord.
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But the burning of Gherardino Segarelli, instead of turning off the apostolic movement, for one of those strange "jokes" of history, but marks the beginning of a completely original story, and a lot at stake, in the Italian Middle Ages. Among the many who had come in Emilia from afar to participate in the apostolic movement, there is Dolcino, a native of Prato Sesia (Novara). After the death of its founder, Dolcino actually assumes the role of leader of the movement, whose core "manager" under the pressure of the Inquisition, he moved in 1300 to Emilia Trentino (they are called here, and greeted by their friends and companions). Repression, however, follows them even there, where three apostles (two men and one woman) are put at stake. In 1303/1304 Dolcino here then, with the most loyal group of Apostles (men, women, elderly and children), starting the long journey that will take them through the mountains of Lombardy (at Chiavenna there is still a country called Campodolcino) in Valsesia. Valsesia is the homeland of Dolcino, he has friends here, and it is natural that, to save himself, he thinks this goal. Among the women who are part of this group is the beautiful Margaret of Trent, of noble birth, mate of Dolcino.
Valsesia, however, was long in the first open struggle against the feudal lords (Biandrate accounts), then against the towns of the plains (Novara and Vercelli). When the group arrives at the Apostolic Gattinara and Serravalle, centers on the bottom of the valley, and here begins his preaching for a church and a new society, the popular host is enthusiastic. The bishops of Vercelli and Novara, in agreement with the pope, seeing how the advent of the Apostles is a catalyst for stand-alone instance of people Valsesia, then announce a veritable crusade to eradicate these "children of the devil." It recruited a veritable professional army (even the Genoese archers, skilled in the shooting) to put an end once and for all. The Apostles, this time, combined with Valsesian rebels, decided to defend himself. In 1304 then starts a real guerrilla war between the army and the Christian church Christians who believe in a different and alternative. This was followed by fights and battles, in which Dolcino also gives evidence of considerable military intelligence. The rebels are pushing up the valley and the mountain known as Bald Mountain, which is ideal for defense, are installed with the support of the mountain and founded a real "common" heretical, pending the final outlet that Dolcino educated man, a theologian and philosopher of history, considered imminent. The Crusaders besiege the Bald Mountain, where the rebels are holed up (some sources speak of 4000 people, more than 1,400), and follow each other bloody clashes. The winter, for the rioters, it is terrible. They now live in desperate conditions. Till, led by Margaret in a difficult transition between meters of snow (even now that place is called "crossing the Nun"), succeed in bringing in the Biella Devall. Here they find strength on the Mount by then called the Rebels Mount, or Rubello.
But the crusaders will reorganize and begin a new siege. The rebels are on its last legs, and finally, the last attack causes carnage: about 800 rebels killed on the spot, while Dolcino, Margaret and Longino Cattaneo (lieutenant Dolcino) are caught alive. Longino and Margaret will be placed at the stake in Biella. Margaret refuses to renounce, reject the marriage proposals of some local nobles, who would have saved from the fire, and will choose to remain faithful to his ideal and his companion until the end. Dolcino must first attend to the torture of his wife and then, in Vercelli, will be conducted at the stake is a wagon. During the journey is tortured with burning pincers, but all commentators agree that the extraordinary courage: never complains, but just shrugs when the amputee is the nose and drew a sigh when castrated. Finally, in 1307, even for him the "righteousness" of God is the stake. Three years of armed resistance in the name of Christ, culminating in the flames, but other Dolcinians a bit 'on all sides will continue to exist: we have no information until 1374. Moreover, Dolcino, Margherita and the Apostles become symbols of freedom and emancipation to the present day, and the popular memory will not forget them. As late as 1907 (the sixth centenary of the martyrdom) there will be celebrations of great importance in the construction of a 12-meter-high obelisk on the places of their own last stand.
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The huge, tragic allure of the story must not overshadowing the historical and theoretical meanings of a movement which, although defeated, he testified the validity and vitality of reading a "different" the Holy Scriptures, pointing to a completely alternative way to build a church and a diverse society. For this Dolcinians bibliography is enormous, and he knew Dolcino arouse the admiration of Dante (Inferno, canto XXVIII).
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