Bixio, Nino

As a boy, his parents sent him to serve in the fleet of the Sardinian kingdom . After being in various parts of the Earth , in 1846 he returned to Italy. November 4, 1847 joined the underground organization Young Italy . He became famous in Genoa when he stopped the horse of the Sardinian king Carl Albert for a bridle and shouted: “ Cross Ticino , Sire, and we will all be for you .”

With the beginning of the Austro-Italian War of 1848 - 1849 he joined the volunteer squad. In 1849, with the rank of captain under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi , he participated in the defense of the Roman Republic from the French invaders . He distinguished himself by capturing the whole French battalion , for which he received a gold medal.

In 1852, he participated in an unsuccessful conspiracy to abduct the Austrian emperor Franz Joseph I , during the latter’s visit to Venice and Milan .

During the Austro-Italian-French war of 1859, he commanded a battalion of " alpine hunters ." He participated in the battle of Varese . He was again awarded.

In 1860, he was Garibaldi’s closest assistant in the preparation and conduct of a revolutionary campaign in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies , known as the Expedition of the Thousand . He participated in the battles of Calatafimi , Milazzo , Piazza Duomo , Volturno , during which he broke his leg. On August 10, with two battalions of Red Shirts, he suppressed the unrest of the poor in the city of Bronte , ordering the execution of five rioters. The expedition ended with the conquest of southern Italy and the foundation in March 1861 of a new state - the Kingdom of Italy .

In 1861 he was elected to the Parliament . He tried to reconcile Cavour and Garibaldi.

In 1862 he joined the Royal Italian Army .

During the Austro-Prussian-Italian war of 1866, he commanded the 7th division. At the Battle of Kustoc, he directed the withdrawal of troops, ignoring the Austrian demands to surrender.

In 1867, captured by the French at the Battle of Mentan . He escaped from captivity. He was awarded the gold medal "For Military Valor . "

A Freemason , consecrated in 1867, was the senior overseer of the Valle di Potenza di Macerata lodge . After his death, four lodges were renamed in his honor, including one lodge in New York ^[1] .

In 1870 he was appointed senator , in September of that year he took the city of Civitavecchia and led a detachment of volunteers during the capture of Rome on September 20, which completed the unification of Italy.

December 16, 1873 he died from cholera in Sumatra , on the way to Batavia , as commander of a commercial expedition. In the Genoese quarter of Carinaro , a monument was erected to him.

His older brother Giacomo Alessandro in December 1848 served as Minister of Agriculture and Trade of the Sardinian Kingdom .

• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Mauritius and Lazarus
• Great officer of the Savoy Military Order (12/06/1866)
• Commander of the Savoy Military Order (06/12/1861)
• Cavalier of the Savoy Military Order (12.07.1859)
• Cavalier of the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown of Italy
• Gold medal "For military valor" (1867)
• Medal “In memory of the landing of the Thousand Expedition in Marsala”
• Medal "In memory of the Wars of Independence"

• Staglieno, Marcello. Nino Bixio - Mil. : Rizzoli, 1973.
• Ukrainian Soviet Encyclopedia
• Abba G. C. La vita di Nino Bixio. - 2 ed. - Torino, 1912.
• Codignola A. Bixio. - Mil. , 1948.
• This article (section) contains text taken (translated) from the eleventh edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica , which went into the public domain .