Giuseppe Mazzini - Tarquinia, Lazio, Italy
Posted by: 
neoc1
N 42° 15.217 E 011° 45.331
32T E 727305 N 4681612
A statue honoring activist for the unification of Italy, Giuseppe Mazzini, is located near the city gate opposite Palazzo Vitelleschi on Corso Vittorio Emannuele in Tarquinia, Italy.
Waymark Code: WMV2N1
Location: Lazio, Italy
Date Posted: 02/13/2017
Views: 0
A life-size bronze bust of Italian politician, journalist and leader in the movement for Italian unification is the focal point of a large monument. The bust is set on a 5' high marble base on the second of four steps leading up to a tall circular ionic column which is topped with a bronze eagle with its wings outspread.
The front of the base is inscribed:
A
G. MAZZINI
A small marble plaque on the base of the column is inscribed:
1861-2011
150 anniversario Unita d'Italia
-----------------------------
MONUMENTO RESTAURATO
A CURA DELLA PRESIDENZA
DEL CONSIGLIO DEI MINISTRI
UNITA TECNICA DI MISSIONE
PER IL 150 ANNIVERSARIO
DELL UNITA D'ITALIA
TARQUINIA MARZO 2012
1861-2011
150th Anniversary Unification of Italy
-----------------------------
MONUMENT RESTORED
BY THE PRESIDENCY
COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
TECHNICAL MISSION UNIT
FOR THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY
OF UNITY OF ITALY
TARQUINIA MARCH 2012
Giuseppe Mazzini was born on June 22, 1805 in Genoa, Ligurian Republic which was under rule of the French Empire. He graduated from the University of Genoa with a degree in law in 1828. He had an avid interest in both politics and literature and wrote essays for newspapers until he moved to Tuscany in 1927. There he became a member of the secret political organization the Carbonari. He was arrested and imprisoned. In early 1831, he was released from prison, but exiled to Geneva in Switzerland.
In exile Mazzini organized La Giovine Italia ("Young Italy"), a secret society formed to promote Italian unification. Together with other Italian exiles he led a failed attempted to spread the unification movement to the Piedmont area of Italy. On April 30, 1840 Mazzini reformed the Giovine Italia in London.
In 1849, Mazzini return to Italy after Tuscany and Rome were declared Republics. Mazzini was elected leader of the new republic. However, the Pope with military help from the French and the Catholic forces were able to destroy the republic and restore the Pope to power.
In 1861, a new united Kingdom of Italy, minus Venice and Rome, was declared. Italy was partially unified under of monarchy under Victor Emmanuel rather than a republic as Mazzini wished. In 1870, he was arrested after leading a republican uprising in Sicily but was released after Italian troops occupied Rome. Mazzini died in Pisa on March 10, 1872. He was buried in his home town of Genoa.