Acrylic painting on paper, original work after an anonymous Italian painter pasted in the Buttes aux Cailles district of Paris, France / © Sébastien Bouchard
Balilla,” or Giovan Battista Perasso, is an 18th-century historical figure who became the symbol of the Italian popular rebellion against foreign occupation. In December 1746, this young boy from Genoa sparked a victorious insurrection against the Austrian army with a simple throw of a stone, protesting the oppression endured by civilians. His gesture of spontaneous resistance has endured through the centuries, evolving from a patriotic hero during the Italian unification to an icon of freedom—a name that was later complicated by its ideological appropriation under the fascist regime
