Monument to Giovan Battista NICCOLINI (Bagni di S.

Giuliano 1782 Firenze 1861) Dramatist The statue reminds the ideals of liberty and native land of his poems and inspired the statue of Liberty in New York

Pio FEDI (1877) Chiesa di S. Croce

1861-2011 150 Anniversary of Italys Unification

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Many streets and squares take their name from events and figures connected to the history of Italian unification City Districts Cure and Campo di Marte Teatro Comunale Piazza della Vittoria Streets Bixio, Calatafimi, Mameli, Marsala, Milazzo, Volturno, Mille Magenta, Solferino, Palestro, Montebello, Curtatone Statuto, 5 Giornate, Cernaia, Bezzecca, XX Settembre, Vittorio Emanuele, Risorgimento. Dedicated to Garibaldi entreprises The main battles of Risorgimento Events and people involved in the unification

Another Florence

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Franco BORSI, La Capitale a Firenze e lopera di G. Poggi, Colombo editore, 1970 Piero BARGELLINI, La splendida storia di Firenze, Vallecchi Editore Firenze, 1964 P. BARGELLINI e R. GUARNIERI, Le strade di Firenze, Firenze, 1977 I. MONTANELLI, LItalia del Risorgimento (Milano 1972), ora in Storia dItalia, Milano 2004 CIRCOLO PIERO GOBETTI, Percorsi Risorgimentali, Lucio Pugliese F. MARTINI, Ventisette Aprile, in F.M., Confessioni e ricordi (Firenze 1922), Firenze 1990 pp.160-165 M. FANTI, Piazza della Indipendenza a Firenze, Nuova Grafica Fiorentina, 2010

La prima bandiera italiana portata a Firenze nel 1859 di Saverio Altamura, Museo nazionale del Risorgimento di Torino

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and Senator. OBELISC Monument to the soldiers killed in the Independence wars

Giovanni PINI (1882) Piazza dellUnit

How Tuscany and Florence contributed to the Italian unification

Monument to the soldiers killed in the battles of Mentana and Monterotondo. It reminds the battle between the Franco-papal army and the volunteers of Giuseppe Garibaldi. The marble group represents a garibaldino trying to support a dying fellow holding a flag.

What changes reshaped Florence when it became capital of Italy

Oreste CALZOLARI (1901) Piazza Mentana

Which monuments in the city best commemorate the towering figures of our Risorgimento

A cura di Alessandra Sgarbi con la collaborazione di Simona Falchi Picchinesi Firenze 2011

Monument to Gino CAPPONI (Firenze 1792-1876) Intellectual A prominent figure in the cultural and intellectual life of Florence. He took part to the provisional government of 48 and was senator of the Savoy reign from 60 to 64.

Antonio BORTONE (1884) Chiesa di S. Croce

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Monument to Bettino RICASOLI (Firenze 1809 - Siena 1880) Politician Governor of Tuscany in 1859 and president of Council in 61 and 66. He played a crucial role in the preparation of the Revolution of 1859 in Florence.

Augusto RIVALTA (1897) Piazza Indipendenza

Tuscany and the Italian unification

Risorgimento The Italian unification or Risorgimento was the political and social process that unified disparate states of the Italian peninsula into the single nation of Italy. The Resurgence began in 1815 with the Congress of Vienna and the end of Napoleon rule, and ended around 1871 with the proclamation of Rome as the capital. The last irredented cities (Trento and Trieste), however, did not join the kingdom of Italy until after World War I. With the congress of Vienna the Italian peninsula had been divided among the European powers and looked like a patchwork of fragmented states. The Austrians occupied Lombardy and Venice in the north. The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia, the region of Liguria and the region called Piedmont in north western Italy: this was considered the most advanced state in Italy. The pope controlled the centre of the Italian peninsula; the Kingdom of Sicily, under the rule of the Bourbons, occupied the island of Sicily and the entire southern half of the Italian peninsula. Other small states were the duchies of Tuscany, Parma, and Modena. In each of these states, the monarchs (all relatives of the Habsburgs, the ruling family of Austria) exercised absolute powers of government even though Tuscany enjoyed a relatively more liberal regime than other Italian states. In 1848 important revolutionary riots, preceded by the revolutionary waves of 1820 and 1830, broke out in numerous places of Italy and in many other parts of Europe. At the time of the first Italian independence war (1848) Tuscany was ruled by the last Grand Duke Leopold II, a good and mild sovereign who conceded reforms, and sanctioned a democratic constitution. Despite his attempts at acquiescence, street fighting in opposition to the regime sprang up in August 1848 in Livorno. Leopold II, together with the Pope and the Bourbons, lent his support to the Kingdom of Sardinia in the Austro-Sardinian War. However, when it was clear that the piedmontese army was too weak and the
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Giuseppe DOLFI house (Firenze 1818 -1869) Son of a baker and a patriot since48, he took part to the wars of independence. He led the revolution of April 59 in Florence and was among the main organizers in Florence and Tuscany of the expedition of the thousand. Monument to Cosimo RIDOLFI (Firenze 1794 - 1865) Politician Born into a noble Florentine family, Ridolfi was a politician, philanthropist and agronomist. He promoted agricultural innovations and served in key positions in the Tuscan government. As a prominent politician, he played an important role in the unification of Tuscany with the Sardinian kingdom. After the unification of Italy (1860), he became National Minister of Education
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Borgo S. Lorenzo, 4

The peninsula at the time of the Congress of Vienna.

Raffaello ROMANELLI Piazza S. Spirito

The First Italian Independence War

King of Sardinia, Charles Albert, wanted to have control over the territories wrenched from the Austrians, Leopold and the other allies, withdrew their troops and the king of Sardinia was let alone to fight against Austria. Only a small group of Tuscan volunteers, led by Giuseppe Montanelli kept on fighting on the side of the king of Sardinia against the Austrians and served with honour at the battles of Curtatone and Montanara (1848). Montanelli forced then Leopold II to form a provisional democratic government led by Montanelli himself, Guerrazzi and Mazzoni. When things became more difficult, the Grand Duke had to abandon Florence and sought refuge in the Neapolitan city of Gaeta, under the Bourbons. He then returned to his throne thanks to the support of the Austrian military force. The Second Italian Independence War In 1859 Emperor Napoleon III and Camillo Cavour, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia, signed a treaty of alliance against Austria: France would help Sardinia to fight against Austria and in return Sardinia would give Nice and Savoy to France. In the same year, when Austria started a war with Sardinia (beginning of the second war of Independence), the bloodless Tuscan revolution of 27 April 1859 broke out. On that day the people of Florence manifested their liberal ideals and told the grand duke to leave. That same evening the grand ducal procession left the city via Porta San Gallo among the crowd that saluted it. The revolution, whose protagonists were the baker Giuseppe Dolfi, baron Ricasoli, Cosimo Ridolfi and Giuseppe Montanelli, started from the present Piazza Indipendenza, and was the most civil and peaceful revolution ever. The most picturesque comment on the Florentine revolution was made by the French consul in Florence: Goodness he said not even a smashed window or an overturned coach! But from that moment on everything would change. In fact, a provisional government under Ricasoli and Ridolfi was established.

Monument to Daniele MANIN (Venezia 1804 - Parigi 1857) Politician When Venice was under Austrian rule, Manin led the bourgeois liberal movement that called for Venetian autonomy within the Austrian Empire. During the Revolution of 1848-49, he directed the antiAustrian rebellion in Venice. After the victory of the rebellion and the proclamation of a republic, he headed the republican governments. Monument to Ubaldino PERUZZI (Firenze 1822 - Antella 1891) - Politician For many years he was mayor of the city and minister of Public Works with Cavour and Minister of Interior with Farini and Minghetti. Piazza Indipendenza is one of Florences most patriotic piazzas. Before 1859 this was Maria Antonias square from the second wife of Grand Duke Leopold II. It was named Piazza Indipendenza after it became the site of the bloodless uprising started right here, in April 1859.

Urbano NONO (1890) Piazzale Galileo

Raffaello ROMANELLI (1897) Piazza Indipendenza

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Monumento to Giuseppe GARIBALDI (Nizza 1807 Caprera 1882) Soldier and politician He was a commander in the conflicts of the Risorgimento. He has been dubbed the "Hero of the Two Worlds" in tribute to his military expeditions in both South America and Europe. He is considered an Italian national hero. Equestrian monument Vittorio Emanuele II (Torino 1820 - Roma 1878) King of Sardinia (1846-1861) then king of Italy (1861-1878) Until 1932 this statue stood in Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, todays Piazza della Repubblica.

Cesare ZOCCHI (1890) Lungarno A. Vespucci

The 1860 plebiscite

On the one hand there were the supporters of autonomy, who were not ready to give up the independence of Tuscany, and, on the other hand the annexationists, like baron Ricasoli, who were firmly convinced that it was necessary to annex Tuscany to the monarchy of the Savoia. The plebiscite of 15 March 1860 announced the adhesion of the Grand Duchy to the Kingdom of Sardinia. As other parts of Italy also joined, in 1861 a united Italy under a constitutional monarch was born. Three years passed and, in 1864, an agreement between France and Italy (la Convenzione di Settembre) established that the capital of the new kingdom would be moved to Florence. Turin had been the first seat of the national parliament, but was deemed too far north to remain capital, and Rome, the natural choice, was still a papal possession.

1865-1870 Florence capital of Italy Emilio ZOCCHI (1890) Piazza Vittorio Veneto, in front of parco delle Cascine.

Florence capital capital of Italy

A shock The annexation of Tuscany to United Italy and the decision made immediately thereafter to move the capital to Florence was a great shock for both the city and the region. The functional needs deriving from this new role as capital had a profound impact on the city. When it became the capital of Italy, an army of 20,000, including bureaucrats and their families, descended on Florence, a city of around 146,000, creating a sudden housing shortage and spurring an explosion of urban change. Rents raised and the City built temporary prefabricated housing in steel and wood in the belt-area around the Viali, at Porta alla Croce and Pignone, and outside Porta S. Frediano to meet the needs of the poorest families. The capitals government offices found their headquarters in the great palazzi of the antique town centre. The king and the court took up residence in Palazzo Pitti, Palazzo Vecchio housed the Parliament, Palazzo Riccardi, the Presidence of Council first led by La Marmora, then by Ricasoli in '66 and, a year later, by Urbano Rattazzi. The
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Monument to General FANTI (Carpi 1808 - Firenze 1865) General Minister of war but, above all, an officer who led the piedmontese occupation of Marche and Umbria.

Pio FEDI (1872) Piazza San Marco The government

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Ministry of Finance was in San Marco square, the Public Works in the Convent of S.M. Novella, the Education in S. Firenze square. The Ministry of War was housed in San Marco square and the Ministry of Marine was in Piazza Frescobaldi. An immediate solution needed to be found to cope with the population increase and meet the needs of the new capital. It was then that the architect Giuseppe Poggi submitted his outline plan for urban expansion. After centuries of immobility as far as construction was concerned, Florence, that was identical to the way it appeared in the time of Cosimo I, was destined to change her face, to dispose of part of the old and acquire features that were not hers.

The marks of Risorgimento in Florence

Many monuments in Florence commemorate people or events that greatly contributed to the Italian Unification. These artworks, often neglected, awaken our sense of patriotism.

Photo

Monument and notes

Monument to GIUSEPPE MAZZINI (Genova 1805 - Pisa 1872) - Politician Together with Garibaldi, he was the most prominent figure in the making of modern Italy. He also helped define the modern European movement for popular democracy in a republican state. As a republican, he disapproved of the new united kingdom of Italy. Monument to Camillo BENSO, Conte di CAVOUR (Torino 1810-1861) - Politician He was a leading figure in the movement toward Italian unification. It was his accommodating policies that led to the unification of Italy in little more than a decade. Cavour was able to persuade Napoleon to a secretly planned war against Austria. Cavour died only three months after the declaration of a united Kingdom of Italy, and thus did not live to see Venetia or Rome included in the kingdom.

Artist and location

Antonio BERTI (1987) Viale Gramsci

The urban change

The viali The aim of the grandiose project for the urban rearrangement of the city, assigned to the architect Giuseppe Poggi, was to give the city a European countenance, with a ring of boulevards, with large piazzas, trunk roads and residential districts. The ring road was mapped out between th 1865 and 1870 and the old 14 c. walls that were still intact were kicked down. The demolition of the walls made it necessary to build a new customs boundary that divided the citys territory into two parts: open city and closed city. The main architectural layout of Poggis plans, to which he dedicated his greatest efforts, are the viali with the piazzas, and the ramps leading to Piazzale Michelangelo. The most picturesque part of the ring begins in Piazza Poggi where under the shadow of the Porta San Niccol begins a series of ramps that lead to Piazzale Michelangelo. The road is extremely impressive, flanked by Italian gardens: shrubs and trees alternate with balustrades, statuary and artificial grottos, to climax at the Piazzale with harmonious terraces

Augusto RIVALTA (1869) Hall of Banca dItalia Via dellOriolo

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many famous Italian writers and poets: De Amicis, the author of the book Cuore, Giovanni Verga who in 1869 will write here Storia di una capinera, Luigi Capuana, Carducci, Manzoni, Collodi, the author of Pinocchio. But, at that time, in Florence lives also Pellegrino Artusi who starts publishing La scienza in cucina e l'arte di mangiar bene, the ultimate cookery book of the XIX c. and a must for generations of cooks. Many intellectuals attended the renowned gabinetto Viesseux, a prestigious library and cultural centre. The press Florence also became the capital of the press. Among the 723 newspapers issued in Italy, 101 were published in the Florentine area. As a consequence, 27 elegant kiosks, made of iron and glass, appeared in the city. When finally the capital was moved to Rome, Florence, due to the expensive planning activities undertaken, was into serious debt. Taxes went up, the real estate market lost value and a big part of the population was still poor. Furthermore, with the disappearance of the walls and some historical buildings, the city had lost a fundamental element of its structural definition. However, it had acquired a new dynamism and a more European and modern character. The viali still remain the only planned and completed works in the modern history of Florentine urban development.

that offer a view of the entire city, its river, its buildings and churches. Piazzale Michelangelo Piazzale Michelangelo, dedicated to the great Renaissance sculptor, has copies of some of his works found elsewhere in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo (the Dawn, the Dusk, the Night and the Day). These copies are made of bronze while the originals are all in white marble. The monument was brought up by nine pairs of oxen on 25 June 1873. Poggi designed the Loggia or Palazzina del caff in neoclassical style, which today houses a panoramic restaurant. Originally it was supposed to be a mausoleum of Michelangelos works. The Piazzale offers one of the most famous and wonderful city views in the world, encompassing the heart of the city from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce and the hills north of Florence, Fiesole and Settignano. The concept of panorama was foreign to Florence and only developed after Piazzale Michelangelo was created. This was the aesthetic portion of the entire plan, while the rest was based mainly in functionality. After the San Niccol bridge, the viali enter what was then the residential district that was built for the bourgeoisie, officials and professionals that had multiplied in number towards the end of the century. The first large square we come to is named after the famous jurist Cesare Beccaria. This elliptical piazza was created by demolishing several buildings and it isolates the ancient Porta alla Croce, making it a true monument. Seven streets converge into the square, so that as in Paris or Vienna, it is an essential junction distributing traffic along well defined arteries. The route continues along what is now Viale Gramsci; fortyone meters wide it is the broadest section of the entire project. The dimensions were considerable for the period and worthy of a European capital. From Viale Gramsci we
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The balance

Piazza Cesare Beccaria

Its only when we know what we have been that we can begin to understand our place in the scheme of things, to discover as a nation who we are
Simon Shama -British historian-

Piazzale Donatello

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come to Piazzale Donatello and the English Cemetery originally named Protestant Cemetery. The popular name English Cemetery arose from the predominance of the English among the protestants in Florence at the time and the large number of English speaking people buried here. Noteworthy names buried here include Victorian poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning, the abolitionist preacher Theodore Parker whose words influenced A. Lincoln, Giampiero Viesseux, founder of the gabinetto Viesseux, a library in Florence which played an important part in the sharing of cultures across Europe during the Risorgimento. Poggi isolated the historic cemetery and transformed it into an impressive traffic island. Piazza della Libert We then continue to another square which, since 1945 has been known as Piazza della Libert. Here Giuseppe Poggi faced and successfully met a challenge that was all but simple: in the middle of the area at his disposal stood the old city gate, Porta San Gallo and the arch of triumph (built in 1739 when the archduke Francis of Lorraine entered the city) encircled by a large lawn with a fountain in the middle, with the arch and gate in perfect symmetry. Around the central nucleus he built a quadrangular piazza, enclosed on all four sides by tall, but cold porticoes. Piazza della Libert fulfilled two needs: the first was to provide the city with monumental, commemorative areas, and the other to create nuclei for urban expansion. Continuing along the viali we come to a huge, old structure, The Fortezza di San Giovanni, or da Basso. This pentagonal brick structure was designed by Antonio da San Gallo the younger and was built by Pier Francesco da Viterbo and Alessandro Vitelli between 1534 and 1535. Poggi isolated the fortress and surrounded it by a stretch of lawns with a large fountain in the widest part. Continuing towards the Arno, the plans called for another trunk road that led to the creation of Piazza Vittorio Veneto, an anonymous, flat place now crossed by the new tramway. After crossing the river over Ponte alla Vittoria, which was still made of steel, the viali reach Porta Romana, another junction, and then begin to go to the hills.

This last section is certainly the most beautiful. The viale leads back to Piazzale Michelangelo and then again to the Arno, completing a 7 kilometres route. Piazza della Repubblica The second major urban renewal project was the demolition of the oldest nucleus of the city: what had been the heart of Roman Florence, the site of capitol and forum. During the Middle Ages numerous towers were built and it was decided to turn the area into a market. Adjacent to the market was the Jewish ghetto that took up the area bounded by what are now Via Brunelleschi, Via de Pecori and Via Roma. It was decided to tear down everything and both hovels and monuments such as the churches and towers were destroyed. The pickaxe didnt stop at the column of abundance that marked the geometrical center of the city or Vasaris Loggia del Pesce. It is said that during the work a very busy engineer asked the great painter Signorini Telemaco, are you crying about the trash that is coming down? The artist replied: No, Im crying about the trash that is going up. In fact, the organic connection of a thousand years of urban stratification was destroyed and substituted with a quadrangular piazza and an anonymous geometrical layout of characterless buildings. In the same period was completed the Mattonaia district which had in its ideal centre the beautiful garden of piazza D'Azeglio. In 1873, when the city had lost its role of capital, the works went on with the building of S. Ambrogio market and, in 1874, the market of S. Lorenzo. In Via Porta Rossa, following the European fashion, the first boutiques opened to suit a clientele now used to social gatherings and balls in the fancy palazzi of the centre or in the villas of Florentine countryside. On this point, it has to be said that Poggi devoted much of his work to the renovation of villas and noble palaces. Celebrities The first year of Florence as a capital was celebrated by the sixth centenary of the birth of Dante, to whom was erected a statue in S. Croce square. In those years the city attracted
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Fortezza da Basso

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