page_title: First Italian War of Independence
section_title: Extension of the Front (June–July 1848)
hierarchical_section_title: First Italian War of Independence / The second phase of the first campaign (May–August 1848) / Extension of the Front (June–July 1848)
caption_attribution_description: English: Piedmontese general Eusebio Bava (1790-1854) Italiano: Generale piemontese Eusebio Bava (1790-1854)
context_page_description: The First Italian War of Independence was part of the Italian unification or Risorgimento. It was fought by the Kingdom of Sardinia and Italian volunteers against the Austrian Empire and other conservative states from 23 March 1848 to 22 August 1849 in the Italian peninsula.
  The conflict was preceded by the outbreak of the Sicilian revolution of 1848 against the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. It was precipitated by riots in the cities of Milan and Venice, which rebelled against Austria and established their own governments.
  The part of the conflict which was fought by King Charles Albert against Austria in northern Italy was a Royal war and consisted of two campaigns. In both campaigns, the Kingdom of Sardinia attacked the Austrian Empire and after initial victories was decisively defeated, losing the war as a result. The decisive events of the first and second campaigns were the battles at Custoza and Novara, respectively.
  At the beginning of the royal war, the Kingdom of Sardinia was supported by the Papal States and the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which then withdrew, having barely participated in the fighting at all.
context_section_description: The conquest of Vicenza removed the troops of general Durando from the Veneto and led to the fall of Padua and Treviso on 13 June, and then Palmanova on 24 June.
  On learning of the Austrian attack on Vicenza on 8 June, Charles Albert held a council of war. Franzini wanted to take advantage of the situation to make an immediate assault on Verona, but the council decided instead to attack Peschiera from the northeast and to occupy Rivoli Veronese. The memory of the Battle of Santa Lucia was still very fresh.
  Thus, on 10 June, while the majority of the Austrian army was concentrated at Vicenza, the Piedmontese 2nd corps advanced on the plain of Rivoli, site of Napoleon's 1797 victory over the Austrians. Radetzky's men withdrew, allowing the Piedmontese to reach their objective. The occupation of Rivoli strengthened the left wing of the Piedmontese formation, but was a bad move for the war effort as a whole, since it left them over-extended.
  After Rivoli and various failed attempts to regain the initiative, there was another month of inactivity on the Piedmontese side, during which the blockade of Mantua was begun. Meanwhile, Charles Albert considered an attack across the Adige and relocated from Valeggio sul Mincio to Roverbella. On 4 July he met with Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had returned from South America where he had been in exile after being condemned to death for his part in the uprising of 1834. The king greeted him icily and referred him to Franzini, writing that it would have been dishonorable to give the rank of general to such a man.
  Meanwhile, at the front, after an attempt to reinforce and resupply the garrison at Ferrara, an Austrian brigade occupied Governolo (southeast of Mantua, at the confluence of the Mincio and the Po) on 16 July, leaving five companies there and then withdrawing to the Quadrilateral. Eusebio Bava, who had been left with a brigade to counter any further Austrian raids, decided to attack Governolo. On 18 July, he initiated a lively fire of fusiliers and artillery from the Mincio, when a company of sharpshooters traveled up the river, attacked the Austrians on the left bank, and managed to lower the drawbridge. The Piedmontese cavalry immediately crossed over, followed by the artillery, prompting the Austrians to retreat – 400 were captured.
  The Battle of Governolo was a brilliant victory for the Savoyard forces, but they were now stretched out over 70 km, from Rivoli to Governolo. This line was very weak as a line of resistance and weak at every point.
caption: Eusebio Bava, commander of the Piedmontese 1st armed corps.
exif: {}