Over-life size statue of the famous Italian general was commissione dby his brother Alfonso and erected in 1867 in the garden of the house he had built along what was to become the via Cernaia in Turin, on land which was awarded to him by the Chamber of Deputies for his war achievements. The monument was made by Giuseppe Cassano (1825-1905) and Giuseppe Dini (1820-1890). On the sandstone pedestal the are bronze plaques on which there are scenes from battles where the general was commanding. He is depicted in typical uniform with famous brimmed hat, called "vaira" decorated with black capercaillie feathers, very typical for Bersaglieri's corps, which were created just by General Alessandro La Marmora. The general holds in both hand sables.
Alessandro Ferrero La Marmora (March 27, 1799, Turin, Piedmont – June 7, 1855, Balaklava, Crim)
He was an Italian general who is best remembered for founding the military unit known as the Bersaglieri.
In 1809, at the age of ten and thanks to the intervention of his mother, he became a page at the court of Prince Camillo Borghese, a position which, according to Emperor Napoleon, could only be attained by the sons of the most influential subalpine nobility.
In 1814, at the age of fifteen, he joined the Piedmontese army as supernumerary second lieutenant in the regiment of the Grenadier Guards and became regular second lieutenant in 1815; that year he participated in the Grenoble campaign, taking the place of a flag-bearer, and was seriously wounded by an explosion of a gunpowder powder. In 1816 he was appointed second lieutenant of the Grenadiers and in1817 orderly lieutenant .
In 1821 at the age of 22, he fought at Novara with the troops under the orders of General Sallier de la Tour and was awarded the cross of justice by the Mauritian Order.
In 1831 he presented his first project for the creation of the Bersaglieri corps which was established by the king in 1836; in 1844 Alessandro was colonel in command of the Bersaglieri and took part in the First War of Independence which was the baptism of fire for the new military corps; on the bridge of Goito in 1848, when Alessandro was 49, he was shot in the face by a bullet which broke his jaw. In July of the same year he was promoted to major general. The following year, 1849, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the army and inspector of the Bersaglieri. For his participation in the battles of Mortara and Novara he received the silver medal for Military Valour. The same year he moved to Genoa where he was in charge of the division stationed in the Ligurian city and at the command of his brother Alfonso, Royal commissioner who had been sent to quell an anti-monarchy revolt. In 1852 Alessandro was regular commander of the military division of Genoa and in the same year was promoted by King Vittorio Emanuele II to lieutenant general.
Alessandro stayed in the Ligurian capital until 1854, when he married Rosa Roccatagliata, widow of Rati Opizzoni. In 1855, at the age of 56, he was lieutenant general in command of the second division of the army corps sent to the Crimea, where his brother Alfonso was commander-in-chief of the contingent of the Kingdom of Sardinia in the East. The troops of Savoy, thanks to the diplomatic manoeuvres of Cavour, introduced by Alfonso la Marmora, joined the Turkish, British and French contingents against Russia.
Two other members of the family accompanied the two brothers: Alfonso’s wife, Giovanna Bertie Mathew and nephew Vittorio, son of his brother Carlo Emanuele who was naval officer in command of the port of Balaklava.
Alessandro and the Bersaglieri left Genoa for the Crimea on the 19 May in 1855 on the warship Costituzione which took ten days to reach Balaklava. In the following months a cholera epidemic spread rapidly among the Piedmontese troops and between the end of May and the beginning of June the number of deaths quadrupled. Alessandro la Marmora fell ill on June 4th and died on the night of 6th and 7th June on a camp bed at Kadikoi, just like any ordinary soldier. His body was buried not far from the camp but was later moved twice and finally placed in the naval cemetery of Balaklava where other commanders of the Crimean war were also buried.
His remains were brought back to Italy in 1911 with great ceremony and laid to rest in Biella in the La Marmora crypt in the Basilica of San Sebastiano.
His death from cholera had an ironical antecedent: Alessandro had written notes about how to treat and prevent this disease while he was commander of the Military division of Genoa and the epidemic was raging in the city.
Army corps: the Bersaglieri
The Bersaglieri corps, founded by Alessandro la Marmora, was officially established by King Carlo Alberto on 18 June 1836. Alessandro had begun to work on the project to create a new military unit in 1831. Like his bother Alfonso, he had travelled all over Europe to study existing military corps and to learn what changes were required. Alessandro was chiefly inspired by the Chasseurs des Alpes, and wanted to build a military unit capable of moving quickly and in small groups over particularly difficult terrain. However, his idea was not accepted by the military hierarchy of his time who still relied on the strategic methods of the 1700’s. Until that time, war had been a head-on clash between armies which moved according to precise rituals and procedures dictated by rigid hierarchical schemes. Alessandro, with his Bersaglieri idea , broke with this centuries-old tradition, envisaging his Bersaglieri as the marines of today, a specialized assault corps, trained to fight in the most difficult terrain, intervening swiftly and with subtle manoeuvres.
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