A Celebration

A celebration

Thursday 17^thof March 2011 will be a very important date in the Italian calendar: Italy will celebrate 150 years of unity.

It was exactly 150 years ago on the 17^thMarch 1861 in fact that most of the lands that form the Italy we know today were united in the Kingdom of Italy under king Vittorio Emanuele II of the House of Savoy after centuries of being divided in many diverse states governed by European kings and aristocrats.

The children of IP 5 and those of Italian mother tongue have been working very hard to commemorate the event and retrace the steps in history that made it possible.

The children took up historic events in 1796 when the first stirrings of freedom, brought about by the French Revolution, were spreading in parts of Italy: the 7^thof January 1797 saw the birth of the very first tricolore in Reggio Emilia and the formation of the Cispadana Republic. This did not last long:  it was two decades later that uprisings began against the big powers of Europe in several towns and cities .  All attempts to gain political freedom were defeated and many patriots lost their liberty and/or their lives.  Four decades later, many lives lost, adverse fortunes befalling several key figures like Mazzini, Garibaldi, Cavour and others, two wars of Independence, finally most of the territories were united into one State.

IP5 will be sharing their work with parallel classes and with their parents to remember and celebrate our rich history and our language.