More information
- Some History of Italy
- Travels to Cloisters - Italy
- Rome - short History
- Florence - some history and highlights
- Venice - some history
- Amalfi - historical notes
Ever wondered the background to the names of the some of the streets that are found in every major Italian city? Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour. Many are linked to the unification of Italy.
The Congress of Vienna (1815) set to break up the power and territory that had been conquered by Napoleon. Austria was given control over the Italian peninsula; and the Kingdom of Sardinia controlled Piedmont, Nice, Savoy and Genoa.
In the first half of the 19th century aristocrats, and the upper middle class were involved with unification. A secret society, the Carbonari, were involved in failed uprisings against the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the Kingdom of Sardina, Bologna and other Italian states. In the end, Austrian stamped out the revolutions.
Giuseppe Mazzini lead the spirit of the Carbonari. and sought a unified Italy, a republic. There was a time of unrest. For a while, the Pope fled Rome, and Garibaldi and Mazzini created a Roman Republic. Short lived. In 1849 France sent troops to Rome and ended the Roman Republic. The Kind of Piedmont lost to Austria, and abdicated the throne leaving his sone, Victor Emanuel II to become the Kind in 1849.
Camillo di Cavour became the prime minister of Piedmont (the Kingdom of Sardinia) in 1852.
By 1860 Italy was Austria controlling Venetia, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
The Vittoriano, in Rome, celebrates King Victor Emmanuel and the unity of Italy.
There were a number of political plots and agreement. A war with Austria An alliance with Napoleon before the unity process was completed.
Fascinating history, and the names of a piazza and via throughout Italy takes on new meaning.