The recently formed Kingdom of Italy decided to seize the opportunity and allied with Prussia with the intention of annexing Venetia and thus uniting the Italian Peninsula.

The King's force was to move into the Trentino region, while La Marmora's crossed the Mincio River and invaded Venetia.

At the start of the 24 June 1866, La Marmora changed the direction of his front, toward the same heights the Austrians were trying to use as a launching point for their attack.

Sirtori's division was blocked from Monte Vento by Rodic's other troops and by 8:00am, he was thrown back by fierce bayonet attacks.

The King's younger son Amadeo led a counterattack, which failed, with the prince being severely wounded, and Brignone was ultimately forced to leave the position.

[8] By 1:00 pm La Marmora, deciding the battle was lost and wanting to secure his bridgeheads, ordered a retreat.

Unbeknownst to La Marmora, Govone's division had beaten back the VII Corps and captured Belvedere Hill.

Such a pursuit would have trapped the disbanded remnants of the two Italian corps on the east bank of the river and enabled Albrecht to invade the Kingdom of Italy itself.

On the 26 June 1866, Albrecht shifted his headquarters back to Verona, because he was concerned about a possible French reply to an Austrian invasion of Lombardy.

In the meantime Garibaldi's volunteers had pushed forward from Brescia towards Trento (see Invasion of Trentino) fighting victoriously at the battle of Bezzecca of the 21 July.