Who, passing to the top of Mount San Paolo—on foot, by mountain bike, or by car—has never noticed the Garibaldi Memorial? At first glance, it might seem like just another memorial stone, but this site holds far greater significance than one might imagine.
We are in July 1849, and Garibaldi’s column is in the Montefeltro region during the last bloody battles of the First War of Independence against the Austrians—but let’s take a step back.
The march toward Venice and the battle against the Austrians
Leaving Rome at 8 p.m. on July 2, 1849, Garibaldi, with about 3,983 men and 819 horses, managed for an entire month to evade the pursuit of the Austrians commanded by Marshal Radetzky, who had orders to kill him and his men on sight. His goal was to reach Venice, which was still resisting the Austrians. However, as days and battles passed, his regiment gradually lost men.
Garibaldi and Monte San Paolo, the Gateway to San Marino
Precisely in the Montefeltro, the enemy front became even bloodier, with dramatic epilogues (on-the-spot executions of prisoners) in the areas of Sant’Angelo in Vado, Pian di Petra, and Piandiprete. On Monte San Paolo (then called Monte Tassona) a turning point occurred that allowed many men to survive.
“…After midnight, and precisely at one o’clock, by the light of a splendid moon, passing first over some meadows and then along a drivable road, at dawn they found themselves on the eastern slope of Monte Tassona. And there appeared to them “the broad view of San Marino!”
This is how some Garibaldi soldiers described the place in their memoirs. San Marino, in fact, being a free state, played a fundamental role in the fight against the Austrians. The Sammarinese orchestrated a pact between the Garibaldi forces and the Austrian army, allowing the few men remaining to reach Venice without being shot on sight. The agreement was to lay down their arms and disband the legion. At that time, Monte Tassona (Monte San Paolo) was not the open-spaced mountain we are used to seeing today; rather, a village of farmers stood on it, some remnants of which can still be seen.
In the area near the current memorial, right next to the village, Garibaldi disbanded the legion to secure a safe passage first to San Marino and then to Venice for himself and his men. History then continued far beyond Monte San Paolo and Monte Grimano Terme, which today are no longer lands of bloody battles but rather places to regenerate body and mind, in close contact with nature.
Text created in collaboration with Tony Di Stefano.
Autore: Municipality of Montegrimano Terme
