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Happy Birthday, Italy: 150 Years Since Risorgimento

Locations in this article:  Florence, Italy Rome, Italy Venice, Italy

Did you know that Italy is celebrating its 150th birthday this year?

Guest blogger Kathy McCabe, editor of the award-winning subscription travel newsletter Dream of Italy, fills us in on special events and tours slated to mark Italy’s milestone.

With all the antiquities and ruins to see throughout Italy, it is easy to forget that the actual country of Italy is quite young. For centuries, the Italian peninsula was comprised of independent city-states, the Papal States and other areas controlled by various European kingdoms.

The Italy we know today only dates back to 1861 when the modern Italian state was founded following battles by unifier Giuseppe Garibaldi (this pivotal figure in Italian history is worth reading more about). The movement to unify Italy was called Risorgimento.

Venice Gondola - Italy Celebrates 150 Years Of UnificationIn 1861, much of northern and southern Italy (with big exceptions including Rome and the Papal States) was united into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, headed by King Victor Emmanuel and Turin was named the first capital.

Despite the fact that Rome didn’t join unified Italy until nine years later, Italy is celebrating its 150th birthday in 2011 with events all over the country. Many events are taking place in and around Turin, the country’s first capital, under an initiative called Esperienzia Italia.

The offerings in Turin include a season of Verdi at the city’s Teatro Regio. The composer was considered “the bard of the Risorgimento.”

Piedmont’s Venaria Reale will play host to “La Bella Italia” an exhibition of 300 masterpieces revealing the evolution of art from ancient times to the eve of 1861.

The exhibition will move on to Florence’s Pitti Palace in October 2011.

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Experience Plus! Bicycle Tours is marking Italy’s milestone year with the a 1,400-mile, 28-day Italy 150 Expedition that pedals from Sicily to Rome, north along the Tyrrhenian coast to Tuscany and across the Apennine Mountains to conclude in Turin in the north where in 1861 the unification process was spearheaded.

Turin Bridge - Turin, ItalyThe route through nine Italian regions retraces the steps of Garibaldi, Italy’s great unifier. The expedition takes place May 7 to June 4, 2011. The per person, double occupancy rate is $8,850 and includes use of a 24-27-speed high-tech bicycle, 28 nights in three- and four-star hotels and country estates; daily breakfast and some lunches and dinners, van support, bilingual tour leaders, and cultural activities.

In Rome, Context Travel has launched a new walking seminar “Garibaldi, Risorgimento, and the Birth of Italy” in honor of Italy’s 150th birthday. Another nine long years of battle remained, as Garibaldi, Mazzini and others sought to bring Rome, still ruled by the Papal States into the national fold.

Context’s three-hour walking seminar discusses the history surrounding 1861, as well as the events leading up to the capture of Rome in 1870 and the subsequent use of this history to further the ideals of later leaders, such as Mussolini. Part of the walk takes place in the Trastevere neighborhood, where many of the battles to liberate Rome took place. Important events, such as the battle in the Ajani wool mill, demonstrate the tenuous nature of the era, as patriots fought against Papal authority for a united Italy. Cost is 65€ per person.

By Kathy McCabe for PeterGreenberg.com. Are you planning to travel to Italy in 2011? Subscribe to Dream of Italy before February 28, 2011 and receive a free Italy travel consultation with editor Kathy McCabe ($50 value). A subscription also includes 10 issues over the coming year, 80 back issues covering every corner of Italy, exclusive Italy travel discounts and a bonus 640-page book on Tuscany and Umbria.

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