Count Genova Giovanni Battista Thaon di Revel (Genoa, 21 November 1817 – Como, 3 September 1910) was an Italian nobleman, soldier, politician, diplomat and historian.

[6] In the same year, due to military commitments, he was sent to Chambéry, where he was in command of an artillery battery for several months, and, during his stay, he accompanied Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Genoa visiting the region of his ancestors.

[7]: 115 In July 1847 Thaon made his debut in the diplomatic field: he had the task of learning the intentions of the Papal States after the occupation of Ferrara by Austrian troops.

He himself defined it as "a curious mission",[8] which allowed him to come into contact with moderate circles in Rome, committed to creating a new national political structure and aiming to remove Austria from Italy.

On the night between 12 and 13 April he received the order from Major Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora to deploy the artillery to bombard the fortress of Peschiera del Garda.

He later took part (6 May 1848) in the battle of Santa Lucia, just outside Verona, with the division of the Duke of Savoy, after which he was assigned to command the 9th battery (1 June 1848) at Venaria Reale.

When (4 August) Carlo Alberto decided to bring the army to Milan and place it outside the walls, Thaon was stationed at Porta Vigentina, where he countered the assaults of the Austrian forces with his own battery.

[9]: 58–61 On 11 April 1855, Thaon was sent, with the artillery officer Vittorio Asinari di San Marzano, to Crimea as military commissioners in the headquarters of Sardinia’s English and French allies.

[2][9]: 129 Following the death of San Marzano from cholera, Thaon was also responsible for liaising with the French command, but in mid-July he too fell seriously ill and was sent to Constantinople for initial treatment, before returning to Piedmont.

[7]: 16–17  Shortly afterwards he took part in the decisive battle of Solferino, during which he suffered a bruised leg and received the Officer's Cross of the Military Order of Savoy for his ability to direct the artillery action during combat.

[2][19] He took part in the Third Italian War of Independence in June 1866 and, as the king's commissioner, was an important organizer and mediator during the Veneto plebiscite which sanctioned the passage of that region to the Kingdom of Italy.

Rattazzi and Thaon di Revel had Garibaldi arrested, but the situation got out of control when on 19 October he escaped from Caprera and landed in Tuscany to launch a new invasion of the Papal States.

[25] In Milan on 26 December 1862, he married Camilla Castelbarco Visconti Simonetta[26] with whom he had 5 children, two of whom (Umberto and Ottavia Maria) did not reach the age of majority.