ABSTRACT
Women patriots had been comparatively prominent in the ‘democratic initiative’, which achieved its most spectacular victory under Garibaldi in 1860. During the following decade both Mazzini and Garibaldi tried to revive such ‘initiative’, but their efforts were frustrated by either the Italian government, or the constraints of a new, less fluid international situation. After 1861 revolutionaries stood little chance of success, though Mazzini continued to dream of a democratic republic, while Garibaldi wanted Venice and especially Rome for the new Kingdom. Indeed, twice in five years Garibaldi tried to conquer Rome, where Pontifical temporal power was kept alive by French money and soldiers. The first time, in 1862, the General was stopped by the Italian army: the troops of the Kingdom he had made fired at him and wounded him at Aspromonte, in the toe of Italy. The second time, in 1867, he managed to cross the frontier and invaded the Papal State, but the French army stopped him at Mentana.
