2007 will be Garibaldi’s year in Nice, as the bicentennial of his birth will be commemorated there. The hero of two worlds, the unifier of Italy, and liberator of Uruguay and Rio Grande do Sul, remains the most honored Frenchman in the world. No one has as many streets, squares, and monuments named after them, and this is also the case in France.
Indeed, Garibaldi was born on July 4, 1807, in Nice, on the harbor, and at that time, the country of Nice was French because it was under the First Empire. Garibaldi would never forget this. Even though he would later regret that his city was annexed to France in 1860 and entrusted his descendants with the task of reuniting it with Italy, he was pleased that Nice was part of a republic.
And when France was in danger, he would rush, weapons in hand, to defend it. This was the case during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. He raised an army and, at the call of Gambetta who appointed him Brigade General, he became the victor of the battles of Dijon and Autun.
The National Assembly met in Bordeaux. It was fundamentally monarchist and sought to kill the Third Republic. Garibaldi was elected deputy for Paris, Algiers, Dijon, and, of course, Nice. The Assembly would invalidate Garibaldi’s election, arguing that he was Italian, but especially wary of welcoming a true republican among them. His departure would also trigger the resignation of his friend Victor Hugo.
That is why Jean-Pierre Mangiapan, the President of the International Committee for the Organization of Garibaldi’s Bicentennial Celebrations, accompanied by his council, decided this year to commemorate the hero’s birth on his 199th birthday in Paris and not in Nice. Indeed, in the 15th arrondissement, near the vast boulevard of the same name, in Garibaldi Square, stands a very beautiful statue of the hero from Nice. The Mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, and the Deputy Mayor of the 15th arrondissement, Mr. René Galy-Dejean, will welcome the Nice citizens who will make the journey, especially the Bicentennial Committee, Nissa la Bella, Remenbrença Nissarda, and members of Mesclun, the association of Nice residents in Paris.
On the same day, a tribute will be paid to Garibaldi’s three grandchildren, who died for France and did not hesitate to come to our side to defend the republic in 1914 and 1945.
Jean-Pierre Mangiapan invites all Nice residents present in Paris, or those who wish to come, to meet on Tuesday, July 4th at eleven-thirty at Garibaldi Square in the fifteenth district of the capital.
Christian Gallo
© Le Ficanas ®
