18th–19th centuries
La Manouba, Tunis, Tunisia
Built in the late 18th century as a residence for the Bey of Tunis, the Palais de la Rose was later used to lodge the foreign teachers of the Bardo Military School, including Giuseppe Garibaldi.
1840
Le Bardo, Tunis, Tunisia
In Tunis, the Bardo military school was directed until 1853 by the Italian military officer Luigi Calligaris, a supporter of Italian unification. During its first year of activity, the school had among its teachers Giuseppe Garibaldi, on the run from the Kingdom of Sardinia’s authorities.
Constantinople, 9 August 1848
State Archives of Livorno
Livorno, Italy
The Grand Duchy of Tuscany and the Kingdom of Sardinia asked the Ottoman authorities to detain three Italian democrats living in Turkey. One of them, Adriano Lemmi, was a supporter of Republican leader Giuseppe Mazzini. The successful business he ran in Turkey allowed him to finance the Italian Republican movement.
Register listing 'all of the subjects of the Grand Duke of Tuscany [Italy] residing in Tunisia'
1850
State Archives of Livorno
Livorno, Italy
Tuscan subjects residing in Tunisia and registered at the Tuscan Consulate were placed under Tuscan jurisdiction and protection. This register includes the name of Giacomo Castelnuovo (Livorno, Italy, 1819 – Goulette, Tunisia, 1866), a medical doctor who supported Italian national unification and had to flee into exile in 1843.
Abdul-Mejid I, Sultan of Turkey (1823–1861)
Mid 19th century
Austrian National Library
Vienna, Austria
During the rule of Sultan ‘Abd al-Majid I (r. 1839–61), the Ottoman Empire offered refuge to several Europeans who had to flee their countries for political reasons, including prominent figures such as the leader of the 1848–49 Hungarian revolution Lajos Kossuth.
24 July 1856
State Archives of Livorno
Livorno, Italy
In 1845, in Cairo, Italian political exile Giacomo Castelnuovo founded the biweekly paper Spettatore Egiziano, the first Italian-language newspaper to be published in Egypt. He later also founded a bulletin called Il Progresso d’Egitto, in order to keep the Italians in Egypt informed about Italian political news.
2nd half of the 19th century
Austrian National Library
Vienna, Austria
Giovanni Miani was from a town near Venice, which before Italian unification was under Austrian rule. In 1849, he fled Italy and went to Malta, then to Constantinople and to Egypt. He later became an explorer and died in 1871 while looking for the source of Nile.
General Giuseppe Garibaldi, hero of the Italian national unification, arriving in Tunis in 1834
1861
State Library of Modern and Contemporary History
Rome, Italy
This print records the arrival of Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi in Tunis in 1834. Garibaldi had been sentenced to death in absentia by the Kingdom of Sardinia for his participation in a failed insurrection aimed at national unification. He spent six months in Tunisia before going to South America, where he lived until 1848.
1894–1901
Central State Archives of Italy
Rome, Italy
In the second half of the 19th century, anarchism enjoyed a significant following in Italy. Some anarchists fled the country because they were wanted by the police. In other cases, such as that of Romualdo Peppini, their emigration was due predominantly to economic reasons. Once abroad, they often continued to be politically active.
1898
State Library of Modern and Contemporary History
Rome, Italy
This booklet is evidence of the presence of a significant Italian anarchist community in late 19th-century Tunisia. Errico Malatesta (1853–1932) was one of the most important Italian anarchist leaders. He spent much of his life in exile, partly in Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.