Flowers were laid this morning on the statue for Garibaldi in Piazza Garibaldi in Barga Vecchia to commemorate 200 years of his birth.
The statue was one of the first erected in Italy to Guiseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882) The foremost military figure and popular hero of the age of Italian unification known as the Risorgimento with Cavour and Mazzini he is deemed one of the makers of Modern Italy.
Cavour is considered the “brain of unification,†Mazzini the “soul,†and Garibaldi the “sword.†For his battles on behalf of freedom in Latin America, Italy, and later France, he has been dubbed the “Hero of Two Worlds.†more on Garibaldi here
“La Valle del Serchio con Garibaldi” was the first exhibition held at the Museo dell Memoria in Piazza Garibaldi when it opened in Barga Vecchia on 31st March of this year (article here) and was also the first exhibition in Tuscany dedicated to the birth and life of the hero of the Risorgimento, Giuseppe Garibaldi.
The new museum has been built on the site of a palazzo hit by artillery during the last world war and left as a rubble for 60 years.The complete complex comprises museum, gardens and viewing terraces. (Images from inside the museum can be seen here)
Stamattina, 4 luglio 2007, il vicesindaco Carla Andreozzi,ha ricordato a tutti noi un evento importante : i duecento anni dalla nascita di Garibaldi. Dopo aver deposto un mazzo di fiori sotto il monumento dell‘Eroe dei due Mondi in Piazza Garibaldi, Carla ha parlato del valore della libertà per il quale egli stesso sacrificò tutta la sua vita. La parola è stata data anche allo storico Antonio Nardini che ha ricordato che Barga è stata una delle prime città a commemorare questo grande uomo:anche il monumento ,infatti,è stato il secondo presente in tutta Italia.
Additional reporting by Marta Micchi and Ilda Torre