1807 - Garibaldi is born on the 4th July in Nice, which then belonged to France. In 1814 the city again becomes part of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

 

1815 Subsequent to the Congress of Vienna, Italy is divided into five Regional States and three small Dukedoms.

 

 

1824 -1833 He sails around the Mediterranean as a merchant sailor. In 1832 he achieves qualification as a second-class captain.

 

 

 

 

 

 

1833 He is fascinated by Saint-Simonian theories and the doctrines of Mazzini, who in 1831 founded Young Italy, with the aim of making Italy a single, independent, republican country. At the end of the year he enrols in the Sardinian Military Navy.

 

1834 He is implicated in a Mazzinian uprising in Genoa. He is discovered, but manages to flee. He is sentenced to death by a military court.

 

1834-1835 He hides in Marseille, where he lives working as a sailor under a false name. He becomes a member of Young Europe. In the summer of 1835 he leaves for Brazil.

 

1836 At Rio de Janeiro he founds a Mazzinian association among Italian exiles.

 

1837 As a privateer, he enters the service of the Republic of the Rio Grande do Sul, which is fighting to obtain independence from Brazil. On Rio della Plata he is attacked by Uruguayans. He is wounded and escapes to Argentina, where he remains a few months, in prison in Galeguay. When he is freed, he remains for a time in Montevideo.

 

 

1838-1841 Having gone over to the Rio Grande, he fights the Brazilians on sea and on land. In 1839 at Laguna he meets Anita; in 1840 their son Domenico is born, whom he will always call Menotti.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1841- 1848 He returns to Montevideo. He fights for Uruguay, which has been attacked by Argentina, in support of the rebel Oribe. In 1842 he is given charge of an expedition on the river Paranà, then he takes part in the defence of Montevideo, under siege, and in 1845 he leads an expedition on the River Uruguay; in February 1846 he resists superior forces in the Battle of San Antonio al Salto, an exploit which becomes famous, returning afterwards to defend the capital. The fame of his ventures spreads through Europe. At Montevideo his children Rosita (who dies very young), Teresita and Ricciotti are born.

 

1848 In April he leaves from Montevideo for Italy, where he arrives in June. The first war of independence is in progress. Convinced that the Italians must be united in order to win against Austria, he offers to fight for Carlo Alberto. The Piedmont army refuses him, but he obtains a command from the provisional government of Milan. After the Salasco armistice, he fights as an irregular against the Austrians in Lombardy. He then returns to Nice, where he embarks with a group of volunteers to take help to Sicily, in revolt against the Bourbons. At Leghorn he decides to stay in Tuscany, then he enters the Papal States.

 

1849 He fights in defence of the Roman Republic, declared after the flight of Pius IX. When the Republic falls, in July, he decides to go to Venice with a few thousand volunteers, to relieve the city, which is under Austrian siege. Forced to disband the troops at San Marino, he tries to reach Venice nevertheless, with a handful of companions, but is forced to give up. In August, while they are escaping, Anita dies. He barely manages to escape from the Austrians who are hunting him down. In September he reaches safety in Liguria.

 

1849-1853 He goes into exile again. He stays in Tangiers, where he starts to write his Memoirs. Then he goes to America, to the United States. He sails around the Pacific. Towards 1853 he sets sail for England.

 

1854-1859 He returns to Italy. He stays in Nice. His father had died in 1841, and his mother in 1852. He buys a part of the island of Caprera and goes to live there. From a political viewpoint, having given up the Republican ideal, he joins the Società Nazionale, believing that it is better for the Italians to collaborate with the House of Savoy, and to have a single constitutional monarchy in Italy, to unite forces in the fight against Austria.

 

1859 In the second war of independence, he is a general of the Piedmont army, in command of the "Alpine Hunters". His daughter Anita is born of Battistina Raveo. After the armistice of Villafranca, he takes over command of the army of the League in central Italy. He resigns when he is prevented from invading the Papal States.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1860 In January he marries the Countess Raimondi, from whom he separates after only a few days. In April he unsuccessfully opposes the cession of Nice to France. On 6 May he leaves Quarto with one thousand volunteers to support the revolution in Sicily against the Bourbons. On the 11th of May he disembarks in Marsala, and on the 14th he takes over dictatorship in Salemi; on the 15th he defeats the Bourbons at Calatafimi and on the 27th he enters Palermo. On the 6th of June he is in control of the city. On the 20th July he defeats the Bourbons again at Milazzo, and on the 19th of August he crosses the Messina Strait and lands in Calabria. On the 7th of September he enters Naples. On the 1st and 2nd of October he repulses the Bourbon counterattack at the Battle of Volturno. After it is decided with a plebiscite to include the south of Italy and Sicily in the Savoy Kingdom, on the 26th October he meets Vittorio Emanuele at Teano. On 7th November in Naples, he hands over power. On the 9th, he leaves again for Caprera.

 

1861 In March the Kingdom of Italy is proclaimed. In April Garibaldi clashes with Cavour in Parliament over the treatment meted out to the volunteers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1862 With the intention of freeing Rome with the support of the people, he leaves from Sicily with 2,000 volunteers, but on 29 August he is stopped in Calabria on the Aspromonte, by the Italian army. He is wounded and taken prisoner until October.

 

 

 

1864 In April he makes a triumphant journey to England.

 

1866 In the third war of independence he leads a volunteer corps fighting in Trentino. At Bezzeca he wins the only victory in a campaign which is otherwise completely negative for the Italian armed forces.

 

1867 His daughter Clelia is born of Francesca Armosino. He returns to his plan to free Rome with an expedition. In September he takes part in the Congress for Peace at Geneva. In October he invades Lazio at the head of a group of volunteers, but the campaign for Rome ends unsuccessfully on 3 November at Mentana.

 

1869 His daughter Rosita (who will die in January 1871) is born of Francesca Armosino.

 

 

1870 From October to January 1871 he takes part in the Franco-Prussian war, in favour of the republic proclaimed in France. He begins literary activity, which will lead him to publish three novels and to complete his Memoirs.

 

1871 He returns to Caprera. He takes a stand in favour of the Paris Comune and socialism.

.

 

1872 When Mazzini dies he orders the flag of the Thousand to be flown over the body, although he did not agree with his political line. In November he tries to unite the Italian democratic forces with the Pact of Rome.

 

1873 Francesca Armosino gives birth to his son Manlio.

 

1875 He remains in Rome to support a project for canalising the Tiber.

 

1876 He accepts a national gift, after the Left has gained power.

 

1879 In April in Rome he founds the League of Democracy, which promotes legal protest for electoral reform.

 

1880 He obtains an annulment of his marriage with Countess Raimondi and marries Francesca Armosino.

 

1882 He returns to Naples and Palermo. On 2 June he dies at Caprera.

 

Taken from A.Scirocco Garibaldi, Battaglie, amori, ideali di un cittadino del mondo, Published by Laterza, 2004