The 24th of June 1859, the decisive battle to achieve the Italian independence took place among the hills overhanging SOLIMAGO. French troops, under the leadership of Napoleon the third and General Mac Mahon, beat the Austrian army of Emperor Franz Joseph. 17000 men died in that battle.
The Swiss merchant Henry Dunant (1828-1910) happened to be passing through Solferino, at that time. Seeing the people of the village caring for the wounded soldiers without minding to which side they belonged, he got the idea to start a volunteer society with the same purpose of helping soldiers around the world. This is how International Red Cross was born.
Dunant wrote a touching book about his spiritual adventure: “A memory of Solferino”.
During the Renaissance Solferino was a remarkable town. The Gonzaga, Princes of Mantua, settled there their own mint exactly in the building that is now the COSTANZA FATTORI’s Villa.
The powerful Medieval Tower “La Spia d’Italia” and the Piazza del Castello Gonzaghesco are still there to witness the importance of Solferino between XIII and XVI century.
It is possible to find traces of roman and pile-dweller settlements in the same SOLIMAGO dating back up to a thousand years ago.