The Independence Wars and the Kingdom of Italy

Many inhabitants of Vicenza took part in Garibaldi’s campaigns. The first show case is dedicated to the “Vicenza men in the Thousand” Antonio Radovich and Domenico Cariolato. The events of 1860 had their climax with the solemn proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy by the first Italian parliament in Turin on 21st March 1861. 18 years after the valiant resistance of 1848, the third Austrian domination ended after the Third Independence War, and Vicenza gave its contribution to the annexation of Veneto to the Kingdom of Italy with the results of the plebiscite of 21st October 1866. The visit the king paid to Vicenza on 17th November 1866 to award the town the gold medal for Military Valour, a month after the Veneto provinces were annexed to the kingdom of Italy, represented the realisation of a previous proposal, dating back to 1849, by Sebastiano Tecchio, who suffered exile and was a member of the Subalpine Parliament in Turin, to award those who had defended Vicenza on 10th June 1848. The official ceremony was held in Piazza dei Signori, before a vast crowd of spectators. The event was immortalized in a panting commissioned to the painter Domenico Petterlin by King Victor Emmanuel II himself; it shows the King in the act of decorating the flag of the Municipality of Vicenza with the gold medal for military valour, and recalling the reasons for this in the strength and the sacrifice of the Town in one of the highest and most glorious moments of its millenary history: “For the strenuous defence the citizens opposed to the impetuous enemy in May and June 1848".

Orsola Faccioli Licata. Folla acclamante il Re Vittorio Emanuele II in Piazza dell'Isola (ora Piazza Matteotti) il 17 novembre 1866. Olio su tela, 1869

Domenico Petterlin Vittorio Emanuele II nell'atto di decorare con lamedaglia d'oro al Valor Militare, per i fatti del 1848,la bandiera della città. Vicenza 18 novembre 1866. Olio su tela, 1870.