Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The revolts in Milan and, more importantly, in Venice (where the rebels held out until
well into 1849) may have failed but they provided essential fuel for those clamouring for
Italian unification. The diplomatic offensive to this end came from the Duchy of Savoy,
whose capital was in Turin. Ably led by prime minister Count Camillo Benso Cavour, the
House of Savoy struck a deal with France's Napoleon III. In 1859, Savoy-ard and Napo-
leonic troops defeated the Austrians at Magenta (4 June) and Solferino (24 June) and
within a year all of Lombardy had joined the nascent Italian kingdom. Venice would not
do so until 1866 and unification was completed in 1870 with the taking of Rome.
The Cimitero Monumentale contains a memorial to the Milanese who died in Nazi concentration camps.
Designed by Studio BBPR, the pure form of a cube is traced in steel and slab marble, a response of reas-
on and light to the horror of the war years. At its centre is earth from the camp where Gianluigi Banfi,
one of BBPR's four partners, died.
