As the Grand Stadium project in Nice is progressing well, one question is on everyone’s lips: but what will it be called? Many names are being suggested in the city for the future grand stadium of Nice. Whether on the OGC Nice forum or in our survey, in neighborhood cafes or on the Promenade des Anglais, one name seems to be unanimously favored: Giuseppe Garibaldi. But who is this often mentioned figure?
Giuseppe Garibaldi is to Italy what Bonaparte is to France. There is no shortage of nicknames to describe this historical figure known worldwide, from America to China and England, and even North Africa. Known alternately as “the sailor,” “the red shirt,” or even “the Nissart Che Guevara,” he left a significant mark on the 19th century. However, if there is one that aptly describes this emblematic figure from Nice, it is “hero of the two worlds.”
Giuseppe Garibaldi truly earned this nickname on the field. Born in Nice on July 4th, 1807, he received a religious education. His mother taught him the basics of Latin and Italian, as well as the glorious past of Roman Italy. Against his mother’s advice, in 1821, he chose to become a sailor. He sailed on his fatherโs ship, the Saint Rรฉparate, visiting ports across the Middle East. In 1833, a meeting would change his life. He met Giuseppe Mazzini in Marseille, where the leader of the Giovine Italia (Young Italy) had sought refuge. This meeting marked the real beginning of Garibaldi’s life. He then joined this republican and clandestine movement, with the mission to incite a rebellion within the Sardinian fleet and seize the Genoa arsenal. The conspiracy failed early the next year. Sentenced to death in absentia, he was forced into exile in South America, where he spent 13 years.
Forced exile to the New World
Upon arriving in Brazil, Garibaldi served the Republic of Rio Grande do Sul, which was in rebellion against the Emperor of Brazil. He armed a ship, the Mazzini, and scoured the Atlantic coast. In 1839, he met a Brazilian, Anna Maria Ribeira de Silva, then abducted her from her fisherman husband and married her in Montevideo. She gave him a son the following year, Menotti, named in memory of a patriot hanged in Modena in 1831. This marriage helped create the “Garibaldi myth.” From his time in South America also emerged his famous victories in Uruguay and Argentina, won with Italian volunteers, the “red shirts” (normally employed in the slaughterhouses of Montevideo). These victories, legendary in their heroism, made the name Garibaldi known worldwide.
In 1848, upon hearing of the Italian revolutions, Garibaldi returned to Italy, where he reformed a legion with Mazzini. They fought successively in Lombardy against the Austrians, then against the French in 1849 to defend the Roman Republic. After two months of valiant resistance at the head of a small army of ten thousand men, they had to yield.
After that failure, a difficult period began for Garibaldi. Anita died from exhaustion during Garibaldi’s desperate flight towards the Adriatic coast. Pursued by all the police forces of Italy, he again went into exile in America. He returned to being a sailor, and it was the unexpected acceleration of the unification process that brought him to the forefront starting in 1859.
Towards the unification of Italy
Thus, the unification of Italy was underway. It was with this idea in mind that Garibaldi prepared his most famous expedition, aimed at freeing Sicily and Southern Italy from the rule of the Bourbons of Naples.
The Expedition of the Thousand
On April 4, 1860, a revolt broke out in Palermo, weakening the power of the Bourbons. On the night of May 5th to 6th, Garibaldi departed from Genoa with 1,087 “red shirts” heading for Sicily. On May 15th, the thousand won the Battle of Calatafimi against the Bourbons, and on May 27th, they entered Palermo. On September 7th, Garibaldi and his troops entered Naples.
In the service of France
Now that Italy was unified, Garibaldi turned to another cause to defend. In October 1870, he offered his services to the French Republic against the Kingdom of Prussia. On November 25th and 26th, at the head of 10,000 French sharpshooters from the Army of the Vosges, he won a victory at Dijon. In February 1871, he was elected deputy in Nice, Paris, and Algiers.
In 1874, he became a deputy of Rome and received a national pension of 10,000 lire from the Italian parliament. In 1879, he founded the League for Democracy, with a radical program. Garibaldi notably demanded the establishment of universal suffrage and the abolition of ecclesiastical property. In 1880, he retired permanently from political life. Stricken with bronchitis, Giuseppe Garibaldi died on June 2, 1882, at Caprera. On June 8th, the hero of Italian unification was honored with official funerals. He rests under a huge tombstone, worthy of his history, facing the sea.
THE GARIBALDIAN MYTH
This biography, as complete as possible, aims to make you familiar with this character dear to all the people of Nice. But why is he so ingrained in the hearts of the people of Nice? His life, his journey, has made him a true myth. And it’s important to understand why.
Everything in his journey was poised to turn his life into a myth. Against his mother’s advice, he followed his father and became a sailor at the age of 13. They roamed the seas of the entire world. His flight to South America after his death sentence laid the first stones of the myth in the eyes of the population. And his chivalrous marriage to his first wife, the birth of his son Ricciotti in the middle of the jungle, and the tragic death of his wife, consecrated Garibaldi in the eyes of the Italian and Nissart people. To all this, one must add his victories in Latin America, which give the myth an international dimension.
And what is remarkable in this mystification is that it began to appear around 1834, when young Giuseppe was only 26 years old.
Garibaldi’s influence on others paved his way to success. His reputation had preceded him, and if the expedition of the Thousand could be realized, it was notably thanks to his influence. The Garibaldian myth appears as one of the great founding myths of Italy. And the private life of this “hero” takes an important part in it. It brings the necessary romance and tragic elements to any myth. And what about his “judicial career,” which could classify him, in the eyes of some, as one of the martyrs. Garibaldi embodies the honor of the homeland and is the symbol of resistance for many patriots, of all origins.
The City of Nice will soon celebrate the bicentennial of the birth of this hero (in 2007!) And one hopes that these events will be worthy of the man. Giuseppe Garibaldi is, according to Max Gallo, a famous historian from Nice, “clearly the only person from Nice known worldwide, from Latin America to England.” And to return to the choice of the name for the future stadium of Nice – which is the reason for this article – the people of Nice have not been mistaken in celebrating this man. And Max Gallo confirms that: “(…) the choice of the people of Nice is judicious.”
