Garibaldi, with hundreds of volunteers, is retracing the victorious route he had taken across Italy just two years earlier. This time, however, he is heading, at his own behest, toward Rome. He finds himself in the Aspromonte mountains of Calabria, facing 3,500 soldiers sent to stop him. The Bersaglieri, under the command of Pallavicini, advance, firing, and Garibaldi is grazed in the thigh and then in the ankle as he waves his arms to stop those of his men who, disobeying orders, return fire. The fighting lasts only a few minutes but results in 12 deaths and 30 injuries. Politically, the event is monumental: the army has fired on the hero envied by the entire world. The event is also commemorated in the Bersaglieri’s official march: “Garibaldi was wounded, he was wounded in the leg.” Six soldiers who had joined Garibaldi’s side were also executed. The captured volunteers, approximately 2,000 in number, ended up locked up in Alpine fortresses, often sharing cells with Bourbon soldiers deported the previous year. An amnesty would be needed to heal the wound. Garibaldi ended up on Caprera. During a trip to London, he found half a million people waiting to cheer him on.
