Solferino

Solferino is a low hill commune in the morainic ridges south of Lake Garda, sixteen kilometres west of the Mincio and just inside the province of Mantova. The hill, the Spia d'Italia, has been a watchpost since the 12th century, when the Scaligeri built the tower that still rises 23 metres above the surrounding plain. On 24 June 1859 around 300,000 soldiers of the French and Piedmontese armies under Napoleon III and Vittorio Emanuele II faced the Austrian army of Franz Joseph I across these slopes, in what would be the last battle in European history personally commanded by reigning monarchs.

Roughly 6,000 men died and 35,000 more were wounded or missing. The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant, passing through the day after, organised civilian care for the wounded in the church at Castiglione delle Stiviere and afterwards wrote A Memory of Solferino, the book that launched the International Red Cross. The Ossario and the small museum next to the tower preserve the bones and the relics.

From Verona (VRN), about 45 minutes by car.

Milan (BGY) is about 1 hour away.

By car from the centre of Brescia 40 minutes or Trento 1h 25m.

Coming by train into Brescia? Solferino is about 39 minutes away by road.

Every town within reach of Verona airport.