Historic monument

On June 24, 1866, during the Third War of Independence, near Villafranca, along the road to Verona, the Italian troops, including the XVI Infantry Division commanded by Prince and future King of Italy, Umberto of Savoy.

Attacked by the imperial cavalry, the Italian infantry defended themselves by forming a “battalion square.” In one of these, the IV of the 49th Infantry Regiment of the Parma Brigade, Prince Umberto took refuge.

It was against this battalion that the furious charges of the imperial cavalry, about 600 horsemen from Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Slovakia, and Poland, the finest of European cavalry, were unleashed against 446 peasants, laborers, artisans, and workers together, for the first time in the history of Italy, representing all its provinces: 88 from the old Piedmont, 48 Lombards, 54 Parmesans, 9 Modenese, 85 Romagnoli, 6 Tuscans, 21 Umbrian-Marchigiani, 97 from the southern provinces, 29 Sicilians, and 9 “exiles” from the still-Austrian Veneto.

Everyone fought well, excellently, as they had learned on the parade ground, and the Austrian cavalry was defeated. Of the 600 horsemen, only 200 managed to retreat towards Sommacampagna.

To commemorate the episode at the site of the clash, near the little church of San Giovanni della Paglia, a modest monument was erected in 1880.

In 1889, after being destroyed by a furious hurricane, it was rebuilt in the shape of an obelisk and placed in a more visible location, at the side of the road at the entrance of the city.

(Source: Terredelcustoza.com / Nazario Barone)