The role of Cardinal Ruffo in the movement was a contemporary source of controversy, attributing to Ruffo both cruelty and bloodlust; apologist writings defending him are only extant with respect to the sack of Altamura.
The name of Sanfedismo itself was a source of criticism, dubbed "a word sprung up, by which this new phase of wickedness might be called" by a contemporary.
Sanfedismo, and Ruffo himself, became synonymous with the "recalcitrant, truly counter-revolutionary clergy" as opposed to those who were more sympathetic to the French Revolution.
The name "Sanfedisti" was also used by Bourbonist peasant uprisings against the House of Savoy during Italian unification.

The Canto dei Sanfedisti is still remembered by heart among many in the Mezzogiorno, and sometimes sung by folk groups.
It is a parody of La Carmagnole, a popular French Revolutionary song.

Later scholarly views of the Sanfedisti have dubbed them a "counter-revolutionary" group, but not homogeneously a "reaction[ary]" one.
The role of Cardinal Ruffo in the movement was a contemporary source of controversy, attributing to Ruffo both cruelty and bloodlust; apologist writings defending him are only extant with respect to the sack of Altamura. The name of Sanfedismo itself was a source of criticism, dubbed "a word sprung up, by which this new phase of wickedness might be called" by a contemporary. Sanfedismo, and Ruffo himself, became synonymous with the "recalcitrant, truly counter-revolutionary clergy" as opposed to those who were more sympathetic to the French Revolution. The name "Sanfedisti" was also used by Bourbonist peasant uprisings against the House of Savoy during Italian unification.
The Canto dei Sanfedisti is still remembered by heart among many in the Mezzogiorno, and sometimes sung by folk groups. It is a parody of La Carmagnole, a popular French Revolutionary song.
Later scholarly views of the Sanfedisti have dubbed them a "counter-revolutionary" group, but not homogeneously a "reaction[ary]" one.
Sanfedismo