Week 20
On October 26, 1860, the great warrior who had led his troops across Sicily and into the city of Naples, now met the other great warrior from the north, King Vittorio Emanuele II outside of the small town of Teano.
They shook hands, and with this gesture they assured the unification of Italy. It was not yet complete. Important parts of the peninsula (Rome and Venice) were still outside of the new Italy. The future was assured.
The real hero of this moment was Garibaldi. He could have refused to give way to the king from Piedmont. But Garibaldi was a generous and insightful man.And his political wisdom and his extraordinary gesture in which he handed over the leadership of one of the 19th Century's greatest political crusades assured its success. He retired to his island home and handed over Italy to the politicians.
