Garibaldi Compendium on Caprera
The Compendio Garibaldino (Garibaldi Compendium) on Caprera, comprising the house, the outhouses and the cemetery where Giuseppe Garibaldi is buried, is one of Italy's most-visited museums, a fact that speaks volumes about the roots that Garibaldi as a figure has put down in the hearts not only of the Italians, but of people from the rest of the world as well.
Garibaldi and La Maddalena
Men and women imbued with the spirit of freedom have identified with Garibaldi and his feats as a man of arms since the days when the general was still alive and receiving visits, letters, offers of command posts and requests for advice and help on Caprera. Garibaldi found refuge on La Maddalena in 1849, when he was exiled there by the Savoy government and was put up by the local families who had fought with him in South America and Italy. He later settled there when he bought half the island of Caprera in 1855-56 and built a small complex, extended over the subsequent decade to comprise the house, the stable, the bakehouse and the windmill. On Caprera, erstwhile nomadic warrior Giuseppe Garibaldi turned into a farmer and fisherman, and first and foremost into the life and soul of a community of people who worked with him, becoming the centre of a network of political, cultural and idealistic relations that branched out worldwide.
His Legacy of Word and Deed
Garibaldi wrote a great deal, thus overcoming the distances and difficulties his age placed in the way of communication, continuing until his death to fight for the ideals in which he believed. Everything he did and the whole of his eventful life reflected his quest for progress, for improvement in the condition of the world's peoples, for freedom in the sense of self-respect and respect for others, to be won and defended at any price. His indomitable spirit, his extraordinary staunchness in always rejecting pipedreams in favour of practical action and his ability to survey the world and people without regard for differences, boundaries or nationalities make Garibaldi a worthy host for the Heads of State and Government who will be attending the G8 on La Maddalena next July to seek shared routes to peace and progress.
The European Dream
Garibaldi died on Caprera on 2 June 1882. His funeral was held six days later, and Caprera overflowing with leaders, both Italian and foreign, who flocked in from every corner. Along with the volunteers who had fought with him, the funeral cortège was made up of citizens who had shared his defeats and many victorious exploits, ordinary people who felt that they were losing, in the general, a staunch defender of the rights of the weak. Garibaldi's deathbed too, positioned so as to afford him one last glimpse of the Strait of Bonifacio and the Corsican coast, reflecting an ideal of then unthinkable unity, calls Europe to mind, with its laborious, but accomplished, unification process, and the great positive chances that history has made it possible to achieve when dialogue and a desire for peace have managed to assert themselves as the method and goal for dealings among Leaders.
