Garibaldi and his men

The Expedition of the Thousand was the crucial episode of the Risorgimento. It happened in 1860 when a thousand volunteers, under the command of Giuseppe Garibaldi, set off in the night between 5 and 6 May from Quarto, in the territory of the Kingdom of Sardinia, to Sicily which were at that time in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

The purpose of the expedition was to support the revolts in the island and to end the Bourbon government. The volunteers landed at Marsala on May 11th and, thanks to the broad consent of the local population, were strengthened. After a series of victorious battles against the Bourbon army, the volunteers managed to conquer the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies allowing the annexation to the Italian State.

The shirt or red jacket was the mark chosen by Giuseppe Garibaldi and his volunteers since 1843, when the patriot gathered in Montevideo 500 Italians, the Italian Legion to defend the Uruguayan Republic by the Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas, who wanted to conquer it.

Garibaldi, relying on little funding for his business, he found the red woolen cloth, usually used for coats of butchers in order to hide the animal blood stains, to coat his troops.

The red shirts were among the protagonists of the birth of the Kingdom of Italy.

Garibaldi's Expedition od the Thousand

Padri della Patria - Fathers of the Nation

 

 

The short story of Italian Unification

In 18th century Italy was not united as we know it today, but divided into many small states: the United Lombardo-Veneto, the Kingdom of Sardinia, the Papal States and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the duchies of Modena, Massa and Carrara , Lucca and Parma, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
All these states, with the exception of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was ruled by King Vittorio Emanuele I, were subjected to Austria. This situation made Italy an undeveloped peninsula and economically backward in comparison to other European countries.

The Risorgimento and secret societiesIn this climate began the Risorgimento, which is the period in which the inhabitants of the Peninsula created initiatives for its reunification. The people who pledged themselves to pursue the idea of ​​Unity of Italy were called patriots. They carried out their activities in secret to prevent the Austrians arrested them.One of the patriots Silvio Pellico, the writer of "My imprisonment", the story of the time when he was a prisoner of the Austria and Giuseppe Mazzini, who founded the Young Italy in exile in Spain.  

The revolutionary movements and the three Wars of IndependenceThe unification was not a peaceful process because of many revolutions and battles against the enemy. But the spontaneous movements were not enough and three Independence Wars were necessary to achieve the unification of Italy.

The first war of independence broke out in 1848. The King of Sardinia, Carlo Alberto, at the request of Lombard patriots declared war on Austria. The war, initially victorious, was later defeated and the king had to give the kingdom to his son Vittorio Emanuele II.

The Second War of Independence broke out in 1859 and led to the liberation of Lombardy and Sicily. The liberation of Sicily took place with the action of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had an army of a thousand men. This action is remembered as the "Expedition of the Thousand". 

In 1861 it was declared the kingdom of Italy with Torino as a capital.

But Italy was not yet fully liberated.  The regions of Veneto and Lazio were lacking.

During the Third War of Independence, Veneto was incorporated to the Kingdom and remained only Lazio. In 1871 the briganti (Italian soldiers) arrived in Rome and opened a breach in the walls of the city liberating Rome. The unification of Italy was completed.

Evviva l'Italia! 17th March

Turin, March 17, 1861: the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy

"The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies have approved; we have sanctioned and promulgate the following: Article one: The King Vittorio Emanuele II assumes for himself and his successors the title of King of Italy. We order that the present, bearing the state seal, is included in the collection of the acts of the government, sending anyone up to observe and enforce it as state law. From Turin this day of March 17, 1861"

These words represent the text of the law n. 4671 of the Kingdom of Sardinia. A few days after the March 17, the same text would become the law n. 1 of the Kingdom of Italy.

The international reaction to the proclamation of the Kingdom was sudden and, in some cases, enthusiastic. The new state was recognized, in a few weeks, by the Swiss government, the UK and US.

The Kingdom of Italy was thus "created" by a decision taken by the Parliament met in Turin, in the Palazzo Carignano. Its representatives were elected a few months earlier, in January 1861. The elections were indeed held in all regions which, through plebiscites, in the previous year had requested the annexation to the Kingdom of Savoy.

What is the story of Risorgimento? Who is considerated to be a hero? We will find out in next posts.