After being lowered at the Congress of Vienna which claimed to eliminate the entire Napoleonic period from history, the green, white and red flag introduced in the three years of the Jacobin republics (1796 – 1799) was kept in hiding by secret societies, generally inspired by free masonry. At this stage in our nation’s history, in all likelihood, the tricolour reappears, among the oldest in Italy and kept at the...

Oath taken by members of “Young Italy”, 1831 (a video in which the Oath is read by author Roberto Saviano): In November 2010, as part of the television programme “Come away with me”, the author Roberto Saviano read the Oath taken by members of Young Italy, drafted by Giuseppe Mazzini in July 1831. It is an essential text in understanding Mazzini’s thinking: it contains the term “mission”, dear to the...

A carbine is a rifle with a short, scored barrel, usually of small calibre. Taken up in 1836 by the recently constituted Bersaglieri Corps, it was widely used by the volunteer forces of the Risorgimento.

Anonymous – Lithograph Giuseppe Giovannetti (1788 – 1848) from Lucca embarked on a military career from a very young age, proof of the strong military attitude of the Napoleonic era. He was involved in many campaigns: Neapolitan, German, Spanish Wars, War of the Sixth Coalition (1813). He was mentioned and promoted many times. Having stepped aside on the arrival of the Austrians, he was recalled to service by Maria Luisa...

Inv. 543 Belgium – Liège. Steel barrel, scored bore, octagonal cross-section, patterned. Decorative motifs on the barrel, rounded handle in walnut root, etched leaves on almost all the lower section and metal shell-shaped pommel on the handle suggest a weapon made for aa upper-middle class customer. (Belgium – Liège)

Inv. 544 Belgium – Liège. Steel barrel, octagonal cross-section, burnished and patterned. Spring percussion mechanism.

Inv. 545 Round barrel and walnut stock, probably of French origin.

Inv. 1 Steel blade, brass hilt with reliefs of Neptune with trident and on the guard two Sirens with an anchor and Austrian eagle. Letter case monogram FI I on the sabre knot.

Inv. 2 Blade etched with plant symbols and the monogram F II surmounted by a crown. Bronze hilt with floral motifs on the guard. Armourer’s mark: Labruna 1853.

Anonymous - Oleograph on canvas Portrait of Giuseppe Mazzini. Below is a description of Mazzini by the Russian writer Aleksandr Herzen (Moscow 1812 – Paris 1870). Mazzini (Genoa 1805 – Pisa 1872) is very natural and courteous, but in discussion especially it is clear that he is accustomed to dominate; he conceals with difficulty his irritation when faced with a contradiction and sometimes does not conceal it at all […] In...