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 Leopoldo Pilla, Geologist of international fame and Professor at the University of Pisa, Captain of the Tuscan Volunteers, who fell in the Battle of Curtatone on the 29th May 1848. |
The Sanctuary of the Grazie was indirectly involved in the battle of 29th May 1848 which was one of the most significant battles in the War of Independence of Italy.
It is not fitting to talk here of the events that led to this war nor of the battles fought against the Austrian Empire by the regular armies from the Granducato di Toscana, the Kingdom of Naples and Vatican City alongside the Sardinian-Piemontese army. Nor can a synthetic summary be given of the events that have now passed into history, such as the Battle of Curtatone and Montanara. It can only be said that to avoid a possible attack from behind against the piemontese army, troops were drawn up along the Alto Mincio and the nearby towns of Goito, Volta Mantovana, Custoza by the Austrian troops coming from the fortified city of Mantova, who had set up a defensive line along the road leading from Porta Pradella to the Angeli, Curtatone, Grazie and Rivalta and on towards Goito.
Since April 1948 troops were drawn up along this line. They were regular soldiers from the Corpo di Spedizione Toscano and a division of the Neapolitan army together with hundreds of volunteers.
From the 5th May the area of "Le Grazie" became the Tuscany Headquarters of The in Chief, General Ulisse d'Arco Ferrari. Here, alongside the Tuscan soldiers camped out on the square in front of the "Sanctuary", were the reserves which included a group of volunteer students comprising the Battaglione Universitario who came mainly from the Atenei of Pisa and Siena and also Florence. A field hospital and a depot were also erected in the square.
Many of the young volunteers came from the bourgeois and Tuscan aristocracy, and had no military training. They were poorly armed and their
officers had been promoted to the rank purely for the occasion, and had no experience of battle either. These youngsters were stirred by a great
enthusiasm and at the time of need they proved to be great fighters. In the fifteen days or so that they were camped at "Le Grazie", they carried out
military exercises and mixed with the local population.
There had already been shots of fire of a more or less serious nature in the enemy zone since the end of April, but the adversaries had always been forced to return to base. However, on the morning of the 29th May, the Austrian army, comprising more than 20.000 well trained soldiers heavily armed with artillery, battery fire and loaded with arms, left Mantova to attack the 7.000 or so youngsters from Tuscany and Naples and enact the so much feared attack from behind against the Piemonte soldiers. They expected to win hands down.
 The cannoneer Gasperi in Curtatone - 29th May 1848, drawing by G. Fattori. |
The soldiers attacked the defensive lines of the adversary but found a much greater resistance than they expected. The battle proved to be extremely violent and took place along the shores of the Upper Lake in the area of the Quattro Venti, along the Osone and beyond Montanara, and lasted the entire day until late evening.
At the Le Grazie the volunteers forces of the battalione Universitario were waiting to receive orders from the new of the Tuscan Army, General Ettore de Laugier, but, on hearing the sounds of battle - the front was just two kilometres away - they charged spontaneously to the battle lines and fought bravely alongside the other soldiers.
In the violent combat, one of the first to fall was Captain Leopoldo Pilla da Venafro, professor of geology at the university of Pisa, a scientist of international fame, who had led his students into war.
Meanwhile the injured crowded into the Le Grazie. Medical posts had been installed in the square. The wounded were everywhere, in the Sanctuary and in the private houses, and the local population helped to treat the injured.
The battle of 29th May was a defeat for the Tuscany-Naples army which was forced to retreat with heavy losses. However, their sacrifice was not in vain because their unexpected and heroic resistance blocked the Austrian army which, at the end of the day, had suffered even greater losses and decided not to follow up the attack. This allowed the Sardinian-piemonte forces to fight the largest part of the imperial army at Goito the day after, and to win a more important battle which was of vital success in the War.
Vannozzo Posio
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