Garibaldi Trail

It is 1849. Having wrecked the democratic dream of the Roman Republic and failed in his attempt to bring aid to Venice, which still resisted the Austrians, dissolved what

remained of 4000 volunteers who had followed him there, from the Mandriole, where Anita died, Garibaldi began an escape together with Captain Culiolo, known as Leggero, through the lands of Romagna, helped by a “rigmarole” of patriots that would take him safely to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and then to Liguria.

Having entered Grand Duchy territory, on 17 August he began the journey from the Palazzo Conti or del Diavolo in Castrocaro to Dovadola, described in detail by Giovanni Mini, based on the direct testimony of his father Francesco, who together with Gaetano Fiorentini, Michele Ravaioli and Luigi Tassinari of Terra del Sole escorted the fugitives along the Strada Regia as far as Montaletto to hand them over to Anastanio Tassinari of the Badia di Dovadola.

Having crossed the Ponte dell’Annunziata, Tassinari continued along Via della Carbonaie and introduced the refugees into the Orto Biscia, temporarily entrusting them to Andrea Strocchi, a local vegetable grower, while waiting to lodge them at the Badia with the brothers.

Since this could not take place due to an unforeseen circumstance, Tassinari agreed on a different accommodation for the two in the village.

(In 2011, a plaque by the FAI and the Archeo-club of Dovadola was placed on the house in Orto Biscia to commemorate the passage of the commander).

On the 18th, following an agreement between Tassinari and Bonaguri, a factor of Count Campi, the fugitives were taken to Villa dei Raggi, as evidenced by another plaque on the facade of the house.

But Tassinari, not considering them safe given the proximity of the border between the Tuscan and Papal States, asked his friend Giuseppe Gualdi for permission to take them to the Palazzo di Montaguto, his mountain estate.

Here, the two stayed from the evening of 18 August to the evening of the 21st, as recalled by a text written in pencil by Leggero himself, in characters proper to the affiliates of Giovane Italia, in the left splay of the bedroom window.

Gualdi, having noticed the strange writing, would only reveal its presence and content after the Unification of Italy.

In 1882, a plaque was affixed to the façade of the palace in perpetual memory by dovadolais veterans.

Arrangements were made between the taxi driver and Don Giovanni Verità of Modigliana, and on the night of the 21st, in great secrecy, the journey of the two fugitives was organised from Montepaolo to Monte Trebbio, the agreed place for the handover.

A marble from 1949 recalls the meeting that took place just after the Trebbio Pass, where Don Giovanni had been waiting for two hours in the pouring rain.

The priest from Modigliana had left the house in the evening at Ave Maria armed with a shotgun with the excuse, excellent for a passionate hunter like him, of going “to the night singing of the partridges.”