Custoza. To the south, in front of Villafranca, the divisions of Bixio and Prince Umberto are attacked by Austrian cavalry. In the center, at Custoza itself, the bulk of the Austrian attack takes place, and General Brignone’s grenadiers are forced to retreat. General Govone’s division, one of the best in the field, arrives at full speed, and the Austrians are forced to retreat to the Belvedere hill. Due to a series of misunderstandings and hesitations, however, no reinforcements arrive to Govone, who is forced to begin an orderly retreat. At this moment in Custoza, Govone writes, “through incompetence we lost the opportunity to have the Tyrol and perhaps Trieste! May God forgive us and may posterity forgive us.” History is not made with “ifs,” but it is worth asking what history would have been like if the Venetian territories had been acquired in 1866, without the need to conquer them in the First World War…
