Editing Unification of Italy (section)

==Rome==

===Mentana and Villa Glori===
[[File:Garibaldi at Mentana, 3rd November 1867.jpg|thumb|right|Garibaldi at [[Battle of Mentana|Mentana]], 3 November 1867]]
The national party, with Garibaldi at its head, still aimed at the possession of Rome, as the historic capital of the peninsula. In 1867 Garibaldi made a second attempt to capture Rome, but the Papal army, strengthened with a new French auxiliary force, defeated his poorly armed volunteers at [[Battle of Mentana|Mentana]]. Subsequently, a French garrison remained in [[Civitavecchia]] until August 1870, when it was recalled following the outbreak of the [[Franco-Prussian War]].

Before the defeat at Mentana on 3 November 1867,<ref>Procacci (1973, p. 331)</ref> Enrico Cairoli, his brother Giovanni, and 70 companions had made a daring attempt to take Rome. The group had embarked in [[Terni]] and floated down the [[Tiber]]. Their arrival in Rome was to coincide with an uprising inside the city. On 22 October 1867, the revolutionaries inside Rome seized control of the [[Capitoline Hill]] and of [[Piazza Colonna]]. Unfortunately for the Cairoli and their companions, by the time they arrived at Villa Glori, on the northern outskirts of Rome, the uprising had already been suppressed. During the night of 22 October 1867, the group was surrounded by [[Papal Zouaves]], and Giovanni was severely wounded. Enrico was mortally wounded and bled to death in Giovanni's arms.

With Cairoli dead, command was assumed by Giovanni Tabacchi who had retreated with the remaining volunteers into the villa, where they continued to fire at the papal soldiers. These also retreated in the evening to Rome. The survivors retreated to the positions of those led by Garibaldi on the Italian border.

===Memorial===
At the summit of Villa Glori, near the spot where Enrico died, there is a plain white column dedicated to the Cairoli brothers and their 70 companions. About 200 meters to the right from the Terrazza del Pincio, there is a bronze monument of Giovanni holding the dying Enrico in his arm. A plaque lists the names of their companions. Giovanni never recovered from his wounds and from the tragic events of 1867. According to an eyewitness,<ref>[[Michele Rosi]], ''I Cairoli'', L. Capelli Ed., Bologna, 1929, pp. 223–224</ref> when Giovanni died on 11 September 1869:

{{blockquote|text=In the last moments, he had a vision of Garibaldi and seemed to greet him with enthusiasm. I heard (so says a friend who was present) him say three times: "The union of the French to the papal political supporters was the terrible fact!", he was thinking about Mentana. He called Enrico many times, that he might help him, then he said: "but we will certainly win; we will go to Rome!"}}

===Capture of Rome===
{{Main|Capture of Rome}}
[[File:Porta Pia Pagliari Vizzotto.JPG|thumb|[[Capture of Rome]]]]

In July 1870, the [[Franco-Prussian War]] began. In early August, the French Emperor [[Napoleon III]] recalled his garrison from Rome, thus no longer providing protection to the Papal State. Widespread public demonstrations illustrated the demand that the Italian government take Rome. The Italian government took no direct action until the collapse of the [[Second French Empire]] at the [[Battle of Sedan]]. King Victor Emmanuel II sent Count [[Gustavo Ponza di San Martino]] to Pius IX with a personal letter offering a face-saving proposal that would have allowed the peaceful entry of the Italian Army into Rome, under the guise of offering protection to the pope. The Papacy, however, exhibited something less than enthusiasm for the plan:

{{blockquote|text=The pope's reception of San Martino (10 September 1870) was unfriendly. Pius IX allowed violent outbursts to escape him. Throwing the King's letter upon the table he exclaimed, "Fine loyalty! You are all a set of vipers, of whited sepulchres, and wanting in faith." He was perhaps alluding to other letters received from the King. After, growing calmer, he exclaimed: "I am no prophet, nor son of a prophet, but I tell you, you will never enter Rome!". San Martino was so mortified that he left the next day.<ref>{{cite book|last=De Cesare |first=Raffaele|title=The Last Days of Papal Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft|publisher= Archibald Constable & Co|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft/page/444 444]}}</ref>}}

The [[Royal Italian Army]], commanded by General [[Raffaele Cadorna]], crossed the Papal frontier on 11 September and advanced slowly toward Rome, hoping that a peaceful entry could be negotiated. The Italian Army reached the [[Aurelian Walls]] on 19 September and placed Rome under a state of siege. Although now convinced of his unavoidable defeat, Pius IX remained intransigent to the bitter end and forced his troops to put up a token resistance. On 20 September, after a cannonade of three hours had breached the Aurelian Walls at [[Porta Pia]], the [[Bersaglieri]] entered Rome and marched down ''Via Pia'', which was subsequently renamed ''Via XX Settembre''. Forty-nine Italian soldiers and four officers, and nineteen papal troops, died. Rome and [[Latium]] were annexed to the Kingdom of Italy after a plebiscite held on 2 October. The results of this plebiscite were accepted by decree of 9 October.

[[File:Quirinale palazzo e obelisco con dioscuri Roma.jpg|thumb|The [[Quirinal Palace]] in [[Rome]] became the official residence (royal residence of the [[Kings of Italy]] and after the [[Italian constitutional referendum, 1946]] residence and workplace for the [[President of Italy|Presidents of the Italian Republic]]).]]
Initially the Italian government had offered to let the pope keep the [[Leonine City]] under the [[Law of Guarantees]], but the pope rejected the offer because acceptance would have been an implied endorsement of the legitimacy of the Italian kingdom's rule over his former domain. Pius IX declared himself a [[prisoner in the Vatican]], although he was not actually restrained from coming and going. Rather, being deposed and stripped of much of his former power also removed a measure of personal protection—if he had walked the streets of Rome, he might have been in danger from political opponents who had formerly kept their views private. Officially, the capital was not moved from Florence to Rome until July 1871.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.150anni-lanostrastoria.it/index.php/presa-di-roma|title=La breccia di Porta Pia|publisher=150anni-lanostrastoria.it|access-date=30 September 2014|archive-date=10 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220410002755/http://www.150anni-lanostrastoria.it/index.php/presa-di-roma|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Historian Raffaele de Cesare made the following observations about Italian unification:
{{blockquote|text=The Roman question was the stone tied to Napoleon's feet{{snd}}that dragged him into the abyss. He never forgot, even in August 1870, a month before Sedan, that he was a sovereign of a Catholic country, that he had been made Emperor, and was supported by the votes of the Conservatives and the influence of the clergy; and that it was his supreme duty not to abandon the [[Pontiff]].<ref>{{cite book|last=De Cesare |first=Raffaele|title=The Last Days of Papal Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft|publisher=Archibald Constable & Co|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft/page/440 440]}}</ref>}}

{{blockquote|text=For twenty years Napoleon III had been the true sovereign of Rome, where he had many friends and relations…. Without him the temporal power would never have been reconstituted, nor, being reconstituted, would have endured.<ref>{{cite book|last=De Cesare |first=Raffaele|title=The Last Days of Papal Rome|url=https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft|publisher= Archibald Constable & Co|year=1909|page=[https://archive.org/details/thelastdaysofpap00cesauoft/page/443 443]}}</ref>}}