L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, MAY 4, 2017 www.italoamericano.org L'Italo-Americano 26 LA VITA ITALIANA TRADITIONS HISTORY CULTURE D ear Readers, May is the month when Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) the Italian patriot, who cherished the dream of a unified Italy, landed in Marsala, Sicily (May 11,1860), with "1,000 red shirts" he had helped organize and twenty-six days later wrested control of Palermo from Francis II, King of Sicily. He soon marched upon Naples (then capital of Southern Italy) and presented to King Victor Emmanuel the conquered territory. It was a giant step in Italy's eventual unification, but May, the month Mother's Day is celebrated, is a good time to focus a bit on Anita Garibaldi, the Brazilian girl he married when he was 35, who was the mother of his three children, Ricciotti, Menotti and Teresita, and also to peak at the private side of Garibaldi, the great Liberator. *** At Laguna, a seaside resort in the state of Santa Catarina in Southern Brazil, you will find the Anita Garibaldi Museum which contains documents, furniture and personal effects of Anita, Brazilian wife of Italian hero Giuseppe Garibaldi, who helped to unify Italy. They both fought in the civil wars of Rio Grande do Sur (Brazil) and Uruguay and later in Italy between 1846 and 1849, when Anita died. Garibaldi spent twelve years in Latin America, mostly in Brazil and Uruguay. He first fought for the secessionist province of Rio Grande do Sur against the Brazilian Empire, and then led an Italian Legion fighting for Uruguay against Argentina. When Garibaldi was 35 years old (1842) he married Anita, a Brazilian girl of 18. Garibaldi returned to Italy to help the Republican cause for the liberation of Rome. He was defeated and retreated to the Republic of San Marino with a few thousand followers. He mentioned the death of Anita in the marshlands of Emilia Romagna on August 4, 1849, and mentioned his three children who were left in Nice with his mother and friends (then part of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia). After his escape from San Marino (he was being chased by Austrian troops) and his brief stopover in Nice to see his mother and children, Garibaldi went first to Tunis and then to Tangiers. He stayed there about 6 months as a guest of the Sardinian Consul, a Ligurian like himself, then decided to go to the United States. In 1854, he arrived in London from America. Another woman fell in love with Garibaldi too, the Countess Maria Martini della Torre. She met him in the British capital in 1854. The Countess della Torre, in a way took the place of Anita, Garibaldi's first wife who was always at his side during his battle campaigns in South America and Italy. The Countess, some years later donned the red shirt of the Garibaldini and followed him in his various battles. The strain was too much for her, because finally she gave up and ended her days in a madhouse. *** The years between 1854 and 1859 were peaceful years in his life. Upon his return to Nice to see his children, mother and friends, he decided to build a home on the island of Caprera (northeast of Sardinia) with inheritance money he received after the death of his brother Felice. *** His son Menotti, now aged 15, helped him around the island. This was the place Garibaldi gradually turned into a farm, with cows, horses, pigeons, poultry, and bees. He was very fond of honey, rarely using sugar, He also grew sugar cane, fruits and vegetables - especially apples, peaches, pears, almonds and walnuts. *** There was this attraction toward Garibaldi by rich highborn women, but the women by whom he had children were humble, plebeian folks: Anita (first wife - 4 children, one died). - Battistina Ravello his servant (not married to her, they had one child). The second wife, Marchesina Giuseppina Raimondi had no children with Garibaldi, in fact after the marriage ceremony Garibaldi found out that she was with another man just the night before the marriage. He left her outside the church and never saw her again. She was 17 at the time and he 59. Francesca Armosino, his third wife - two children. By 1860 Garibaldi was in charge of over a thousand men during the successful landing of Sicily, and later Naples (known in Italian history books as "Lo sbarco dei mille"). He was also involved in other military engagements for the unification of Italy, mainly in the north against the Austrians who held Lombardy and Veneto. There were some battles lost but in the long fur with the help of King Victor Emmanuel II, and Napoleon III of France most of Italy was liberated from foreign rule. *** He returned to his favorite retreat, the island of Caprera where his children were well taken care of and growing up with his housekeeper Francesca Armosino, a peasant woman from Asti, Piedmont whom he later married after receiving the annulment of his second marriage to Marchesina Raimondi. Garibaldi married his housekeeper Francesca just before he died, and both Celia (b. 1867) and his beloved Manlio (both children of Francesca by Garibaldi) were enabled to take his name. Celia survived until after World War II, and contributed some details of the last years before her father's death in 1882. *** Garibadi's last few years were a sorrow to him. His feet and hands were twisted with arthritis and he could move only in a wheel chair. Garibaldi died quietly on June 2, 1882 at the age of 75. The island of Caprera has been a national monument since 1980 - visited by thousands of tourists every year. *** In the USA you can visit the Garibaldi Meucci Museum, owned and operated by Order of Sons of Italy in America, 420 Tompkins Avenue, Staten Island NY 10305 (718) 442-1608 *** Mother's Day is celebrated May 14th 2017 this year. ***

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