Migrations | North–South movements | Political emigration

During the 19th century, cities such as Constantinople, Alexandria and Tunis became safe havens for many European political exiles.

Since the French Revolution in the late 18th century, and throughout the 19th century, popular uprisings and political repression caused waves of European political exiles to take refuge in Turkey and other Mediterranean provinces of the Ottoman Empire. The most significant wave occurred after the defeat of the 1848 revolutions that shook many European countries.

One of the countries producing the largest number of political exiles was Italy. From the 1820s, the repression of the movement for constitutional rule and national unification forced many to take refuge abroad. Some went north, including the Republican leader Mazzini who fled to London. Others went south, like General Garibaldi. After Italy’s unification in 1861, a smaller stream of exiles, composed of anarchist militants, moved to the Southern Mediterranean shores.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
AT 093Abdul-Mejid I, Sultan of Turkey (1823–1861)Austrian National LibraryMid 19th centuryDuring 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.

IT1 130An open letter from the Tuscan community in Constantinople to the Chargé d’Affairs of Tuscany, protesting the detention of three Italian democrats exiled by Ottoman authoritiesState Archives of LivornoConstantinople, 9 August 1848The 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.

IT1 106General Giuseppe Garibaldi, hero of the Italian national unification, arriving in Tunis in 1834State Library of Modern and Contemporary History1861This 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.

IT1 180Giuseppe GaribaldiState Library of Modern and Contemporary History1905–06In 1834 Giuseppe Garibaldi was 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.

TN 019École Polytechnique du Bardo1840In 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.

TN 002Palais de la Rose18th–19th centuriesBuilt 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.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
TN 002Palais de la Rose18th–19th centuriesBuilt 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.
IT1 109Register listing 'all of the subjects of the Grand Duke of Tuscany [Italy] residing in Tunisia'State Archives of Livorno1850Tuscan 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.

IT1 112The biweekly paper Spettatore Egiziano was the first Italian-language newspaper to be published in EgyptState Archives of Livorno24 July 1856In 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.

AT 088Giovanni Miani (1810–1872)Austrian National Library2nd half of the 19th centuryGiovanni 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.

IT1 105Italian police record of Romualdo Peppini (b. Turin 1863, d. Casablanca 1912), an Italian anarchist worker who immigrated to Morocco in 1901Central State Archives of Italy1894–1901In 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.

IT1 104An Italian booklet printed in Tunis in 1898 by Socialist and Anarchist Typography on the trial against the Italian anarchist leader Enrico MalatestaState Library of Modern and Contemporary History1898This 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.