What is a vendetta?

   A vendetta is a particular case of the wider custom of blood-feud, by which every member of a stock, or body of men between whom blood relationship subsists, is bound to aid in taking vengeance (on the offender if possible, or on the stock to which he belongs) for a personal injury done to any of his kinsmen. The vendetta which exists in Corsica, and to a less extent in Sicily, Sardinia, and Calabria, is the practice of taking vengeance on the murderer of a relative; and this duty is imposed primarily on the next of kin, but in a less degree on all the relatives of the murdered individual. If the murderer succeeds in eluding his pursuers, then vengeance may be taken on any of his relatives. Between 1770 and 1800, when the vendetta was at its height, some 7,000 murders are said to have occurred in Corsica owing to this practice of private vengeance.