20 September 1870: La breccia di Porta Pia

Today is the anniversary of the breaching of the Aurelian Walls at Porta Pia, walls which had served as defences of the city for sixteen centuries. The Bersaglieri (literally “sharp shooters”), the regiment loyal to King Victor Emanuele II of Savoy routed the papal Swiss Guard. This would mark the fall of papal power in Rome and pave the way for the establishment of Roma Capitale d’Italia the following year following a plebiscite. The final piece of the complex jigsaw puzzle of the creation of the modern Italian state was in place.

The statue of a Bersagliere outside Porta Pia. September 2024

Edmondo de Amicis, journalist and soldier described the breaching of the ancient city walls thus:

we climbed on the terrace of a villa and clearly saw the broken wall and the melancholic Porta Pia. All of the farmland near the walls was crawling with soldiers. Among the trees one could see long lines of artillerymen. Rifles flashed among the green of the gardens, spears glittered above the walls; high ranking officers and privates ran in all directions.

“The Holy Door of Italy”: the Aurelian Walls breached by the Porta Pia. Photograph taken at the Roma Capitale exhibition in 2021 for the 150th anniversary