Garibaldi’s Expedition Transforms Italian Unification

In early May 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi embarked on a maritime campaign that drastically altered the course of Italian unification. Leaving Quarto al Mare near Genoa with roughly 1,000 volunteers aboard two requisitioned commercial steamers, the force aimed to overthrow the Bourbon monarchy ruling the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. This initiative brought together disparate political factions pursuing contrasting objectives. Garibaldi acted in the name of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Piedmont-Sardinia, though the government in Turin did not officially sanction the expedition, while republican figures such as Giuseppe Mazzini sought liberation that would extend to Rome. Concurrently, Piedmontese Prime Minister Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, maintained a cautious posture, seeking to avoid antagonizing France while exploiting the campaign to expand northern control.

The volunteer contingent numbered just under 1,100 individuals by most counts, predominantly middle-class students and artisans from northern and central Italian regions, particularly Lombardy and Venetia. Equipped with antiquated muskets and wearing red shirts that later became their identifying uniform, the expedition halted at Talamone along the Tuscan coast to secure munitions, cannons, and additional rifles from a Sardinian military garrison. Continuing south across the Mediterranean, the two vessels, named Il Piemonte and Il Lombardo, reached Marsala on the western tip of Sicily on 11 May 1860. The disembarkation avoided interference from Bourbon naval vessels, an outcome partly aided by the presence of two British Royal Navy ships anchored in the harbor.