The idea of Nation

As I may have mention once or twice I am from the UK but spent 13 wonderful years living in Italy, where I met and spent countless hours talking to Italians (and other people from, for example Russia, Moldova, France, Spain, and even Ukraine to mention just some of the homeland's of friends and Students) I was based in Milan for work but visited much of the country, one thing that at first surprised me was although Giuseppe Garibaldi is considered a national with a few statues of him here and there, many Italians had a not so positive view in his tale in their History. The Risorgimento completed in 1861

You see Italy was, at least when I was there (97-2010), a country of many countries, each local region expressing its own sense of pride, produce, dishes and history. What is often over looked is that there was no Nation of Italy before Beppe and his reportedly 1,000 red shirts and his Hunters of the Alps marched across the land to liberate these, some times ungrateful, people.
The new king of the New Nation was the old King of Sardinia (principally the Duchy of Savoy, Principality of Piedmont, County of Nice, Duchy of Genoa, and others) head of the house of Savoy, Savoy itself was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within south-eastern France. Beppe was in the employ of Victor Emmanuel II and the Italian project was his conquest of that land, taking advantage of unrest in other nations who had claimed their own slice of the peninsular and Sicily.
One might justifiably argue that the people of these slice where attempting to free themselves from coloniser of greater Empires and Kingdom and in a sense they were, and when Beppe turned up to give them a hand, well all's fair in love and war, but for those who did not welcome his advances Beppe wasn't such a gentle lover.
The people were freed from one to serve another, and the wheel turned.
My wandering thought is this, if the people had not been seduced by Beppe's bravado, would they have chosen the same king or created something of their own 🤔

One last note there is often a joke made about no trusting the Italians as they changes sides, well that comes from the House of Savoy, which often played Spain of against France and vice a versa in order to be subevent to either.

And there ,my ramble ends, until the next turn that is.

Just for a note on the family https://www.italianinsider.it/?q=node/5908