In 1875, General Garibaldi, the legendary military hero of Italian unification, left his island retreat in the Mediterranean for Rome. His battle cry no longer required, he was pursuing a mission that would become an obsession in his old age: to divert the River Tiber from Rome.
Through this forgotten episode, Daniel Pick explores Garibaldi's passionate attachment to Rome & to Italy. In the bitter debate that ensued many myths were laid bare, & prevailing medical, social & political anxieties about the future of the state were exposed.
The flood-prone Tiber had caused havoc, disease & death throughout history. In the capital, the General sought to replace it with a Parisian-style boulevard that would be a wonder of the modern world. But behind his florid promise to revitalise ' Italy' lay a complex & shadowy history, including a traumatic event felt by Garibaldi as the defining tragedy of his life: the loss of his wife Anita. Despite himself, he became embroiled in the political labyrinth of Rome & a drama of thwarted ambition, grand illusion & disillusionment, whose significance was not lost on Garibaldi's later admirer, Benito Mussolini, another self-styled redeemer of the Eternal City & the fever-ridden marshes of Italy.