Page 315 - General Giuseppe GARIBALDI - english version

THE 1867 CAMPAIGN 297

have taken place, as said above, the next day, at about 11:00 according to Fabrizi
or 11:30 according to Menotti, in order to distribute some shoes that had
arrived the previous evening and of which the volunteers had great need.
Therefore he stayed in Monterotondo almost until midday; had they left
only three hours before they would have escaped the attack. It appears that
early in the morning Garibaldi went up to the tower of Palazzo Piombino,
but saw nothing of any importance; maybe at that time the French-Papal col-
umn was still far away or hidden in the folds of the terrain.
rd
Garibaldi knows, in the morning of the 3 , of the disagreements between
Nicotera and Orsini and the fact that because of this their meeting in Tivoli
failed to take place.
The road that Garibaldi’s corps had to take to go from Monterotondo to
Tivoli, comes off the Nomentana, a little less than a kilometre and a half
southeast of Mentana, on the high ground of the Immaginella bending then
to the left through the Vignole- Moiette tavern – crossroad q.88 southeast of
the present station of Montecelio-Vigne Bridge on the Fosso dei Prati. The
road is in part cartway, in part country road; maybe it was in better condi-
tion ten than it is now. It was more or less the same as travelled by Garibaldi
on the 3 rd and 4 th July 1849 in his legendary retreat from Rome after the
city fell into the hands of Oudinot.
The distance between Monterotondo and Tivoli was about 18 kilometres.
It was therefore a march on the side compared to those coming from Roma
between the Nomentana and the Tiburtina. The following is Garibaldi’s com-
plete diary, written by him – the epitome of terseness, clarity and lucidity; the
only detail missing is the departure time that as stated earlier was fixed ver-
bally or with another order:

“Colonel Menotti Garibaldi.
“The columns under your command will march to the left on the Tivoli
road. During the march they will stay compact and as orderly as possible.
“On the right of the marching columns and on the roads leading to Rome
there will be some foot patrols and horse mounted explorers, far enough to
arrive in time to take position in case of the enemy approaching.
“Some look-outs will be placed for the same purpose on the high ground
on the right of the marching line.
“A vanguard will precede the columns at a distance of at least 1,500-2,000
steps and this will be preceded by competent explorers and flankers.