Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi (Nice, 4 July 1807 - Caprera, 2 June 1882) was an Italian patriot, military leader, politician and writer. A leading figure of the Italian Risorgimento, he was one of the most celebrated historical figures of his time. Also known by the epithet “Hero of the Two Worlds” for the military exploits he accomplished both in Europe and in Latin America. Considered by twentieth-century historiography and culture as the principal Italian national hero. His most famous undertaking was the victorious Expedition of the Thousand, which led to the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the nascent Kingdom of Italy, a central episode in the process of unification of the new nation. At the conclusion of the Risorgimento process, the most delicate issue facing the newborn Italian state was the Roman Question, unresolved above all because of France, which guaranteed armed protection to the Holy See. Garibaldi and his followers could not therefore be satisfied with what had been accomplished. Without Rome, the nation that had arisen from the downfall of so many small states appeared as a headless body. Thus, the man who had dealt a decisive blow to the Risorgimento movement, unable to remain idle, conceived the idea of repeating the campaign that had seen him victorious. Garibaldi therefore decided to once again take the road to Southern Italy. In July 1862, departing from Caprera, he arrived in Palermo, while on 25 August the beach of Melito Porto Salvo once again welcomed him, and then Aspromonte. But his renewed revolutionary enthusiasm was immediately opposed by the newborn Italian government, which feared the consequences of another insurrectionary act and worked to halt his advance, succeeding on 28 August 1862 at Aspromonte through a contingent of the Royal Italian Army sent for that purpose. It was here that the destiny of the Hero of the Two Worlds and that of Italy itself became intertwined with the history of Scilla and its people, making them active protagonists and solemn witnesses of the Risorgimento process that would lead to the Unity of the Fatherland and the birth of the Kingdom of Italy.
On the evening of 28 August 1862, the Garibaldian column advancing from Melito, after a three-day march, reached a highly defensible position in the Aspromonte territory, a few kilometres from Gambarie.
The column had meanwhile been reduced to 1,500 men because of desertions and arrests.
The column had meanwhile been reduced to 1,500 men because of desertions and arrests.
Around midday on 29 August Garibaldi was informed of the arrival of a column of the Royal Italian Army, but he decided to remain and await the troops.
He nevertheless deployed the column in battle formation on the edge of a forest, in a commanding position: the left wing on a mountain, Menotti in the centre, Corrao on the right.
Well positioned, the Garibaldian volunteers observed the approaching march of the Bersaglieri, led by Pallavicini.
Once within rifle range, Pallavicini deployed his troops with the Bersaglieri in front and advanced against the Garibaldian volunteers.At that point General Garibaldi ran in front of his own line and began shouting to cease fire:
“No, stop. Do not fire. They are our brothers.”
He was obeyed by the majority of the volunteers, until Menotti’s centre responded and indeed charged the Bersaglieri
In the other sectors, the attackers continued to climb while firing and the inevitable happened: Garibaldi, standing exposed between the two lines, received two carbine bullets, one in the left hip and one in the right ankle.
The latter wound was caused by Lieutenant Luigi Ferrari, company commander of the 4th Battalion. Once the General fell, the Garibaldian volunteers withdrew into the forest, and their officers rushed around the wounded man. The Bersaglieri also ceased firing.
The clash lasted about ten minutes, enough to cause dead and wounded on both sides.
Garibaldi lay leaning against a pine tree, with half a Tuscan cigar in his mouth.
He was attended by three surgeons (Ripari, Basile and Albanese) attached to the volunteers.
Lieutenant Rotondo then arrived on horseback from the Royal Army lines and demanded Garibaldi’s surrender.
The General reproached him and had him disarmed. Colonel Pallavicini, the commander, then intervened and repeated the request, but speaking into his ear and with due courtesy.
Half an hour before sunset the General was lifted onto the shoulders of eight staff officers who, using a stretcher made of branches and padded with soldiers’ coats, carried him all the way to Scilla, taking turns with other officers and soldiers.
Behind the General rode his eldest son Menotti on horseback.
It was a truly sad spectacle: the Bersaglieri in front, walking in silence out of embarrassment for a victory that seemed worse than a defeat; the General, standing out above the group surrounding him, calm, with a serious expression, smoking half a cigar; Menotti, silhouetted behind his father’s head against the fading daylight; the slow progress; the deserted countryside; the melancholy silence of all.
Everything testified that something grave and solemn had happened, something that deeply touched both men and nature.
acing the hardships of the road, the water crossings and the steep and uneven paths that jolted the stretcher, the caravan reached the huts of the shepherd Vincenzo around midnight.
Once they arrived, the General was laid in a ground-floor room full of barrels and farming tools, and stretched out on a wooden platform covered with straw, which served as a bed.
Wrapped in his greatcoat, he dozed, waking from time to time.
Around two in the morning he had some coffee and bread.
Dawn broke on the 30th, and around seven in the morning the journey towards Scilla resumed.
From the huts of the shepherd Vincenzo to Sant’Angelo, the road, still mountainous, continued descending through harsh and steep gorges; however, daylight at least allowed progress with less uncertainty than during the night.
At Sant’Angelo the caravan stopped for half an hour to rest; the General ate bread soaked in milk.From Sant’Angelo to Scilla the road became level, but another kind of ordeal began, equally hard for the wounded General: the burning sun beat down fiercely, and some soldiers tried to protect him with long branches.The road was covered in dry, dark dust raised by the battalion of Bersaglieri in the vanguard. At 2 p.m. on 30 August Scilla was finally reached, and the procession passed through the entire town, almost in the form of a triumph: certainly a very humble one, but the population accompanied him throughout the entire route. The General was first taken to the Castle of Scilla, where he remained for a short period of time; after which he was once again lifted onto men’s shoulders and, climbing a staircase later named in memory of the event, was brought to Marina Grande beach in Scilla.
Here the entire population of Scilla awaited him, having gathered to support and greet the Hero with the cry:
“Long live Garibaldi, long live Rome, capital of Italy!”
Here the General expressed the wish to be embarked on an English ship, but the request was refused because he was considered a prisoner of the Kingdom of Italy.
He was therefore transferred aboard the steam frigate Duca di Genova of the Royal Navy, which carried him to the fortress of Varignano, near La Spezia, where he remained for three months to recover from his wound.
Shortly before the events that led to the General’s wounding, Scilla had written remarkable pages of patriotism: in fact, the population reached the Carabinieri who were escorting Garibaldi supporters arrested in Reggio, freed them, and then refused to hand them over to the infantry company that had come out from the Castle of Scilla.
Shortly before the events that led to the General’s wounding, Scilla had written remarkable pages of patriotism: in fact, the population reached the Carabinieri who were escorting Garibaldi supporters arrested in Reggio, freed them, and then refused to hand them over to the infantry company that had come out from the Castle of Scilla.

To the citizens of Scilla:

Friends, I thank you for your gifts and even more for the generous courage with which you freed our prisoners. Populations such as yours, ready for every sacrifice for freedom, will make the fulfilment of our undertaking easy and certain.

I greet you with affection: Yours, G. Garibaldi.

Giuseppe Ribuffo