The battle of Santa Lucia was an episode in the

First Italian War of Independence The First Italian War of Independence ( it, Prima guerra d'indipendenza italiana), part of the Italian Unification (''Risorgimento''), was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia (Piedmont) and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other ...

. On 6 May 1848, when the

king of Sardinia The following is a list of rulers of Sardinia, in particular, of the monarchs of the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica from 1323 and then of the Kingdom of Sardinia from 1479 to 1861. Early history Owing to the absence of written sources, little ...

, Carlo Alberto, sent I Corps of the Sardinian army to assault the fortified positions held before the walls of Verona by the Austrian army under field marshal Josef Radetzky. The Austrian army, though outnumbered, managed to withstand the attack and hold their positions. The battle is named after the Santa Lucia district of Verona.

Franz Joseph Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I (german: Franz Joseph Karl, hu, Ferenc József Károly, 18 August 1830 – 21 November 1916) was Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, and the other states of the Habsburg monarchy from 2 December 1848 until his ...

(then only 17 years old) assisted at the battle.

Context

Scope of hostilities

On 18 March 1848, revolt broke out in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. The commander of the Lombard–Venetian army, field marshal Josef Radetzky, had excited the rebellion but did not know how to crush it and was forced to abandon the city of fierce fighting. At the same time many other cities in Lombardy–Venetia and at Como the entire garrison went over to the insurgents. After the battle peace was restored to the region in 1849.

Battle of Pastrengo

Austrian strategic weakness

Radetzky's impasse

Assembled inside Verona there was still a considerable force, protected by valid fortifications: however, Austrian troops were demotivated after the first defeats (excepting the victory of 11 April over ill-equipped Lombard volunteers nearly Cortenuovo, followed by the killings of nearly 113 civilians). In addition, the possibility of receiving help from General Nugent's troops through Isonzo was barricaded by the presence of Italian rebels in

Palmanova Palmanova ( fur, Palme) is a town and comune in northeast Italy. The town is an example of a star fort of the late Renaissance, built up by the Venetian Republic in 1593. The fortifications were included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site list as ...

, Osoppo and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isl ...

. To make Radetzky situation even worse, political situation after repression of Austrian Revolution led many observers to doubt about the field-marshal's capacity in maintaining order, and he was labeled as a conservative monarchist by public liberal opinion.

Advance

Advance begins on 6 May, hampered by Sardinians' little knowledge of territory, and only the central column reached enemy (while on right, Bava divisions lost contact with the rest of Sardinian army).{{clarify, date=August 2015

Carlo Cattaneo Carlo Cattaneo (; 15 June 1801 – 6 February 1869) was an Italian philosopher, writer, and activist, famous for his role in the Five Days of Milan in March 1848, when he led the city council during the rebellion. Early life Cattaneo was born i ...

, Considerazioni sul 1848, 1949, Einaudi, Torino.

References

Santa Lucia Santa Lucia Santa Lucia 1848 in Italy History of Verona May 1848 events Joseph Radetzky von Radetz