Italy's 150th Birthday Trivia Quiz

Answer: Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy had been King of Sardinia (the Kingdom of Sardinia included Piedmont, Liguria, Nice, Savoy and Sardinia). Being the first King of Italy, why did he mantain the number two after his name? Probably because he considered the new state as a mere enlargement of the old one: it seems that he didn't even speak good Italian, using French on official occasions and Piedmontese dialect in everyday life.

The Longobard Alboin was king of Italy in AD 568.

Answer: Turin

Turin was the Piedmontese capital and naturally became the first Italian capital (1861-1865). Venice and the Veneto region were annexed in 1866 after the "Third War of Independence". Rome was seized in 1870. Florence was used as capital from 1865-1871.

Answer: Risorgimento (Resurgence)

The Risorgimento has always been narrated, in schools and books, as a popular movement in which all Italians struggled to be reunited to their oppressed brothers. History and politics are not so simple. But the Risorgimento didn't lack a bright and genuinely revolutionary side.

In the case of the Roman Republic, for instance, that lasted only five months in 1849, patriots, inspired by democratic ideals, seized Rome and deposed Pope Pius IX. The French army intervened, reinstating the Pope as head of the Papal States: universal adult male suffrage, the abolition of the death penalty and other very advanced ideals had to wait.

Answer: Count Cavour

Count Cavour was a very able man, a liberal, anti-republican and anti-clerical (yes, the super-Catholic Italy was made by a bunch of people who didn't go to church, to say the least). It is said that after the birth of the new kingdom he declared: "We've built Italy, now we have to build Italians", a task that many consider not accomplished yet.

Answer: Giuseppe Garibaldi

Garibaldi was born in 1807 in Nice that, sadly, was ceded to France in 1859 to repay Napoleon III of his intervention in the war against Austria.
Garibaldi was a natural fighter: he waged guerrilla warfare in Brazil and Uruguay, where his legionnaires adopted the butcher's typical red shirt.
During the Risorgimento, in 1860, he led the famous "Expedition of the Thousand" conquering Sicily and the whole of the south of mainland Italy, then under the Bourbon King of Naples.
He was very popular at the time, and when he visited London in 1864 the reception was like those given to pop stars today. Queen Victoria didn't like him very much, however.
Garibaldi, elected to the National Parliament, spent most of his late life on his small island of Caprera, where he died, leaving us his dreams: among them, the dream of a United Europe. And he also left those incredible names he gave his children (again, like a pop star): Menotti and Ricciotti.

Answer: Giovine Italia (Young Italy)

The Giovine Italia was imitated in much of Europe (Young Germany, Young Poland, Young Switzerland and so on). It backed democratic and republican ideals. Mazzini, too, was one of the early advocates of United States of Europe, an utopian idea back then.

Answer: 1946

In 1946 a nationwide referendum decided that Italy should cease to be a kingdom. The House of Savoy was deeply involved with Fascism, including anti-Jewish laws signed by the King in 1938. Nevertheless, Republicans won only 54.3% of the vote. Monarchists alleged bribery. The Republic was proclaimed on June 18, 1946. Umberto II, the last King of Italy, had reigned for 40 days and was called "The King of May".

Answer: Entente, with Britain, France, Russia and the USA

Italy fought mainly on its north-eastern frontier against Austria. The war was incredibly brutal and costly even by WWI standards: Italy had 651,000 military deaths between May 1915 and November 1918. On the subject of the Italian front I recommed the book "The White War", by Mark Thompson, published in 2008.

Answer: Repubblica di Salò

Salò is a village on Lake Garda. For almost two years, Fascist militia and German soldiers had to fight against Italian Patriots, called the "Partigiani", struggling to restore Italian dignity and freedom after twenty years of dictatorship.

Answer: Tunisia

Eritrea was annexed in 1882; Lybia in 1911; Ethiopia (called Abyssinia) only in 1936.
Maybe it's more accurate to say that Italy colonized with its workers other parts of the world: the United States for instance, or Argentina (half of Argentinians seem to have an Italian name) or Brazil (Sao Paolo has more people with Italian ancestry than any other city in the world, including Rome).