Luciano Manara

A friend of Carlo Cattaneo, in 1848 he participated in the Five Days of Milan (leading, among others, the operation that led to the capture of Porta Tosa) and in the First Italian War of Independence with a group of volunteers he had organised himself.

Fighting in defence of the Roman Republic and as Garibaldi's chief of staff, he died aged only 24 at the battle at Villa Spada on 30 June.

For a short time his body remained in Rome, since his mother was unable to gain permission from the Austrian authorities in Vienna to have it taken to Milan.

The inscription on his monument reads: Luciano Manara, leader of the illustrious legion of valiant men, gave his blood for the fatherland, claiming the honour of Italian arms against foreign mockery.

[1]The monument is surrounded by a small park of cypress trees, with a chapel along whose two sides are ten white marble tombstones of equal size commemorating Luciano's sisters, Virginia in Manati and Deidamia, his wife Carmelita Fè and his three sons.