May 27: The Piedmontese Giuseppe Garibaldi begins his attack on the city of Palermo in Sicily, accompanied by his guerrilla "Thousand Red Shirts" in the struggle to unite Italy, in 1860.

Garibaldi, in a popular color lithograph.

Separatist movements in Sicily were the breeding ground for the expedition of the Thousand Red Shirts, supported by Camilo Benzo, Count of Cavour.

Expedition Garibaldi and his "Thousand Red Shirts"

At the head of his troop of volunteers, Garibaldi arrived in Marsala (after having sailed from Genoa), where he was received with enthusiasm by the rebels who thought that this would achieve the independence of Sicily. As a matter of fact, even some of these joined Garibaldi´s army of the Thousand Red Shirts.

Garibaldi and his army of Red Shirts, also called Expedition of the Thousand.

The Italian nationalism better known as “Risorgimento” (Resurgence) set their sights on the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which comprised all of southern mainland Italy and Sicily.

Francesco II of the Two Sicilies

In 1860, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was ruled by the young king, Francisco II, son of Fernando II of the Spanish Borbons. By having a king with little authority and very repressive, the town was prone to rebel.

Provinces of Sicilly

On April 18, two days before Garibaldi arrives at Sicily in 1860, Count Cavour sent two ships of war to Sicily, ostensibly to protect the Piedmontese subjects present on the island, but it was actually for the amount of Bourbon troops and revolutionaries who were on the island.

Giuseppe Garibaldi, “The Sword” of the Italian Unification