The Risorgimento and the revolutions of 1848 in Vicenza

The failure of the anti-Austrian insurrections of 1821 and 1831 and the consequent repression, instead of decapitating the liberal movement as was the aim of the Hapsburgs, accelerated the formation of an elitist public opinion.

The adventurism that characterised the actions of sectarian groups was replaced by a different awareness of the aims that had to be reached and of the enemy that had to be overthrown.

1848 saw the explosion of revolts both in Lombardy and Veneto, actions that had consistent motivations. The lack of liberty was particularly heavy for the intellectual bourgeois and professional classes and for the enlightened aristocrats. Political life was made barren, any form of cultural activity that was not conformist was suffocated in stark contrast with the neighbouring transalpine nations where liberalism was imposing itself both in the institutions and in the political customs.

Coinciding with what was happening in Europe and as a direct consequence of this and of the news of the Revolution that had broken out in Vienna in March 1848, Milan, Venice and other cities of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia rebelled. The Austrian garrisons retreated speedily to the safe fortresses of the Quadrilateral.

Pietro Negrisolo (Nove, Vicenza 1813 - Vicenza 1890) Storia vicentina. Maggio 1848