Garibaldi and his Memory Today: A Hero Who Does Not Fit into Any Ideology On July 4, 1807, in Nice, in the family of a hereditary sailor, a man was born who was destined to change the map of Europe. Giuseppe Garibaldi — the national hero of Italy, a legend whose name has become a symbol of the struggle for freedom and unification. However, today, nearly a century and a half after his death, the memory of Garibaldi has become a field of ideological battles. He is claimed by fascists, communists, and liberals alike. But Garibaldi himself does not fit into any of these frameworks. He remains a figure that simultaneously defines and transcends Italian identity. From Sailor to Hero of Two Worlds Giuseppe Garibaldi was born on July 4, 1807. From an early age, he knew the sea: he began his independent life as a cabin boy and then served in the Sardinian fleet. In 1833, his schooner arrived in the Russian Taganrog, where a fateful encounter with the political émigré Giovanni Battista Cuneo took place. Garibaldi joined the secret society "Young Italy," which aimed to liberate the north of the country from Austrian rule and unite Italy on a republican basis. In 1834, he participated in the unsuccessful Savoy expedition of the mazzinists, after which he was sentenced to death in absentia by the Genoa court. A period of long wandering began: France, Tunisia, and then — South America. From 1836 to 1848, Garibaldi fought for the independence of republics in Brazil and Uruguay. It was there that he developed his "signature style" — the red shirt, which later became a symbol of liberation movements worldwide. Returning to Italy, he led the struggle for the unification of the country. His famous expedition "The Thousand" in 1860 led to the liberation of Sicily and Naples, which became a decisive stage in the creation of a single Italian state. Historian A.J.P. Taylor called him "the greatest general Italy has ever given." However, despite all this, Garibaldi remained an outsid ... Read more