Giuseppe Garibaldi Monument

Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in the Mediterranean coastal city of Nice in 1807. From a family of fishermen and coastal traders, he became a sailor, then a certified merchant captain, and finally a member of the navy of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. In 1833, Garibaldi met Giuseppe Mazzini, an Italian nationalist, and joined his secret revolutionary society, Young Italy. The following year, Garibaldi participated in a mutiny meant to spark a republican revolution in Piedmont-Sardinia. When the conspiracy failed, he avoided arrest and execution by fleeing first to France and then across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil. 

Ultimately, Garibaldi spent twelve years in South America (1836-1848). It proved to be a formative period in his life and integral to his transformation into an international military hero. In the late 1830s, he served as a naval captain for the province of Rio Grande do Sul, which at the time was in revolt against the Brazilian government. While the province’s bid for independence was unsuccessful, Garibaldi began to garner fame throughout South America. Later, in the early 1840s, Garibaldi joined the Uruguayans in their struggle against Argentine dictator Juan Manuel de Rosas. While fighting against Argentine imperialism, he raised a volunteer legion of Italian exiles (known as the Redshirts) and gained invaluable experience in military leadership and guerilla warfare. Moreover, Garibaldi’s exploits during the war won him increasing fame throughout Europe, especially on the Italian peninsula. 

In 1848, Garibaldi returned to Italy. The following year, he fought to defend the short-lived Roman Republic established by Mazzini and others. Garibaldi’s heroics in battle against French troops along with his daring escape from Austrian forces, however, helped to grow his fame. After the downfall of the Roman Republic, he went into exile once again, eventually taking up residence in New York City. In 1854, the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, the Count of Cavour, permitted Garibaldi to return to Italy. He then took up residence on the island of Caprera, where he lived as a farmer for a few years.   

Four years later, Piedmont-Sardinia was preparing for war with Austria. To this end, the Count of Cavour offered Garibaldi a commission as a major general in the Piedmontese army. After war broke out in early 1859, Garibaldi helped lead Piedmontese forces to victory. Defeated, Austria conceded Lombardy to France, which in turn gave it to Piedmont-Sardinia. Aside from Lombardy, Piedmont-Sardinia also annexed Tuscany, Modena, and Parma. 

After the war with Austria, Garibaldi turned his attention southward. In 1860, he led a volunteer army of roughly 1,000 men to Sicily and then to Naples. After conquering both, he handed them over to Piedmont-Sardinia. The following year, a new national parliament proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy. In 1862 and 1867, Garibaldi led two unsuccessful offensives against Rome, which at the time was still under papal rule and protected by French troops. In 1866, he once again led troops to victory against Austrian forces, which allowed Italy to acquire Venice. In 1870, French forces withdrew from Rome to fight Prussia. After France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Italian troops entered the city and annexed the Papal States, completing the long process of Italian unification. 

In the early 1870s, Garibaldi retired to his home on the island of Caprera. He spent his final years reading, writing, and farming. He died in 1882. 

Less than two decades later, in 1901, an Italian-American organization, Legione Garibaldi, raised $12,000 for the erection of monument in Chicago in honor of Garibaldi. Dedicated on October 12 of that year on the east side of the city’s Lincoln Park, the monument consisted of a bronze statue of the Italian national hero on a massive, roughly-hewn stone base. Designed by New York artist Victor Gherardi, the sculpture depicts Garibaldi standing, arms crossed, donning a cape and looking downward. In subsequent years, the monument was moved twice within Lincoln Park. It remained at its third location, just southwest of South Pond, for more than four decades. In the 1970s, a group of prominent Chicago residents, including Oscar D’Angelo, asked for the monument to be relocated to McClaren Park in the city’s Little Italy neighborhood. The park was renamed Garibaldi park in 1979 and three years later the monument was moved to its current location. A new granite pedestal replaced the old gigantic stone base, which remains statue-less in Lincoln Park to this day. 

Bradford, James C., ed. International Encyclopedia of Military History. New York: Routledge, 2006. 

"Giuseppe Garibaldi." Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 24 April 2021 <https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giuseppe-Garibaldi>.

"Giuseppe Garibaldi Monument." Chicago Park District. City of Chicago. Web. 24 April 2021 <https://www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks-facilities/guiseppe-garibaldi-monument>.

Hodge, Carl Cavanagh, ed. Encyclopedia of the Age of Imperialism, 1800-1914. Vol. 1, A-K. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008.