Emilio Dandolo was an important figure in the Italian Risorgimento, participating in several of its most important battles.

Life

Originating from a family which produced several other figures involved in the Italian Wars of Independence, Emilio Dandolo was one of the protagonists in the Five Days of Milan

Five Days of Milan

The Five Days of Milan was a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On March 18th, the city of Milan, rose, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his men from the city....

 (1848) beside his brother Enrico

Enrico Dandolo (patriot)

Enrico Dandolo was an important figure in the Italian Risorgimento, participating in several of its most important battles.-Life:...

 and their friends Luciano Manara

Luciano Manara

Luciano Manara was an Italian soldier and politician of the Risorgimento era, who took part in the Roman Republic.-Life:Manara was born in Milan....

 and Emilio Morosini

Emilio Morosini

Emilio Morosini was an Italian patriot who participated in the Risorgimento.Morosini was born in Varese.Educated in Fava and studying at the Gymnasium in Brera and the liceo at Porta Nuova, he became friends with Enrico Dandolo and Luciano Manara and fought in the Five Days of Milan in 1848. In...

.

He took part (with the Lombard volunteers) in the Legione Manara in the Brescia

Brescia

Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...

n and Trentine

Trento

Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of Trentino...

 campaigns of the First Italian War of Independence

First Italian War of Independence

The First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese....

. The next year, 1849, he and Enrico participated in the formation of the Roman Republic

Roman Republic (19th century)

The Roman Republic was a state declared on February 9, 1849, when the government of Papal States was temporarily substituted by a republican government due to Pope Pius IX's flight to Gaeta. The republic was led by Carlo Armellini, Giuseppe Mazzini and Aurelio Saffi...

 and then defended it with the Battaglione Bersaglieri Lombardi, commanded by Luciano Manara

Luciano Manara

Luciano Manara was an Italian soldier and politician of the Risorgimento era, who took part in the Roman Republic.-Life:Manara was born in Milan....

. He was injured in the riot at the Villa Corsini in Rome at which Enrico died.

In the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Republic, he fled into exile first to Marseilles and then to Lugano

Lugano

Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...

. During this period Emilio wrote, including "Journey to Egypt, the Sudan, Syria and Palestine" ("Viaggio in Egitto, nel Sudan, in Siria ed in Palestina") and "The volunteers and the Lombard bersaglieri" ("I volontari e i bersaglieri lombardi"). Returning to Italy, he immediately joined preparations for the renewal of hostilities against the Austrian Empire

Austrian Empire

The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...

. He participated in the Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

, but since he was an Austrian citizen he was sent back to Milan, where was put under strict police control. Seriously ill with consumption

Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

, he died in 1859 shortly before Lombardy became free from Austria. His funerals, in Milan, was purged of anti-Austrian connotations and, on the Austrian authorities' dispensation (hoping to avoid riots), he was buried in the cemetery of Adro

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