Day 3212 (Wednesday) 25th March 2026

This is Place Garibaldi in Nice.

There were two cruise ships in the bay this morning, the mayor of Nice banned more than one cruise ship at a time a while ago but in the last few days a new mayor has been appointed so maybe he’s changed the rules – I hope not.

We went into Nice for our weekly kebab in the park and Nice was quite busy so I think the tourists have started. I’ve noticed in the last few days that everybody seems to be wearing brown or beige, I really hope that this is not this summer’s colour, I hate brown and beige. Last year I was fashionable because the colour in fashion was orange.

After a delicious kebab we stopped in Place Garibaldi on the way home and when we got home I looked up Place Garibaldi and found this… 

Garibaldi Square

Place Garibaldi, Nice — where the hero of Italian unification meets the “forgotten” Anita

A square that speaks quietly
Walk out of the Old Town along Rue Cassini and you suddenly arrive at Place Garibaldi — wide,

elegant and almost theatrical.
At first glance it is easy to mistake it for another postcard of the French Riviera: arcades, café terraces and warm ochre façades glowing in the Mediterranean light. But this square is not just a decorative pause between the Old Town and the port.

It is one of the places where Nice reveals its layered identity: Italian memory, French history and the restless maritime spirit of the Mediterranean.
What you will see:
a large rectangular square framed by arcaded buildings painted in ochre tones, façades decorated with trompe-l’œil architectural details, and in the centre — the monument to Giuseppe Garibaldi. From here the streets lead naturally toward the port, a reminder that Nice has always been a city of departures and returns.

Garibaldi: why his name belongs here
Giuseppe Garibaldi was born in Nice on July 4, 1807.
At that time Nice was not yet part of modern France but belonged to the Kingdom of Sardinia.

The city lived in a political geography where borders and identities were still shifting.

Garibaldi would later become one of the most famous figures of the Risorgimento, the movement that

led to the unification of Italy.

For Nice his story carries a special tension. In 1860 the city officially became French territory,

following the Treaty of Turin. Many locals suddenly found themselves living in a different country.
Garibaldi, a native of Nice but a hero of Italian nationalism, became a symbol of this complicated

heritage.

Fact:
The monument you see today in the centre of Place Garibaldi was inaugurated in 1891. It was designed

by sculptor Antoine Étex and completed by Gustave Deloye after Étex’s death.
The statue does not simply honour a man — it represents the memory of a city balancing between

two cultures.

And now the unexpected story: Anita Garibaldi
Behind the famous name Garibaldi stands a woman whose life reads like an adventure novel — but

every chapter of it is real.
Her name was Ana Maria de Jesus Ribeiro, later known as Anita Garibaldi.
She was born in 1821 in a modest family in the Brazilian province of Santa Catarina. Nothing in her

childhood suggested that she would one day become one of the most remarkable women of the

revolutionary 19th century.
Everything changed in 1839, when she met Giuseppe Garibaldi.
At that moment Garibaldi was living in exile in South America after fleeing Europe because of his

revolutionary activities.
Their meeting was immediate and transformative. A partnership of revolution.
Their relationship quickly became more than a romance.
It turned into a partnership shaped by war and political struggle.
Anita learned to ride horses across the vast plains of southern Brazil. Garibaldi taught her the art of

warfare and military discipline.
Together they fought in the revolutions that shook South America during the 1830s and 1840s. Anita

was not a spectator.
She fought, travelled, escaped imprisonment and endured the brutal uncertainty of revolutionary life.

Fact:
During one battle Anita was captured by enemy forces. She managed to escape, mounted a horse and

crossed the countryside alone in order to reunite with Garibaldi.
Another episode became almost legendary.
Only months after giving birth to their first child, soldiers surrounded their home. Anita fled on

horseback with the newborn in her arms and hid for several days in the forest before reaching safety.
These stories are often repeated because they reveal something rare in the history of the 19th century: a woman acting not as a companion, but as a revolutionary actor in her own right.

1847: when Anita first saw Europe
This moment connects Anita directly with Nice.
In 1847 the couple arrived in Nice, Garibaldi’s birthplace.
For Anita it was her first encounter with Europe.
Imagine the contrast: a woman who had crossed battlefields in South America suddenly standing in a

Mediterranean port city with elegant arcades, busy markets and sailors speaking different languages.
Nice at the time was a crossroads of merchants, political refugees and travellers moving between

continents.
Here Anita’s personal story briefly intersected with European history.
If you explore the area today — from Place Garibaldi toward the port — you are walking through the

same neighbourhoods where Garibaldi once returned as an exile and revolutionary.

Legend
Some local stories say that Anita remains the “invisible presence” of the square. The monument honours

Garibaldi, but the memory of Anita survives more quietly — in books, biographies and the imagination

of those who know her story.
It is not an official legend of the city, but a poetic way to remember that history often celebrates heroes

while forgetting those who fought beside them.

1849: the final chapter
After their time in Nice the struggle for Italian unification intensified.
The following years were marked by battles, escapes and guerrilla warfare.
In 1849, during one of these dramatic retreats, Anita fell seriously ill while being pursued by enemy

troops.
She collapsed in a farmhouse near Ravenna.
On August 4, 1849, Anita Garibaldi died of typhoid fever.

She was only 28 years old.
Yet her story did not end there.

Fact:
Her remains were first buried in Nice in 1859, and later transferred to Rome in the 1930s, where a

monument now honours her memory on the Janiculum Hill.

How to read Place Garibaldi today
The square works like a historical stage with several layers.
The monument — the official narrative of Garibaldi the national hero.

The arcaded buildings — the urban architecture of 18th-century Nice.

The road toward the port — the maritime routes that shaped the lives of sailors, merchants and

revolutionaries.

When you stand in the square, you are not only looking at a monument.
You are standing at the intersection of several histories: Italian, French, Mediterranean — and

unexpectedly Brazilian.

When to visit
Place Garibaldi changes atmosphere throughout the day.
Morning (before 10:30)
The square is calm and the architecture is easier to appreciate.
Late afternoon and sunset
Warm light transforms the façades into glowing shades of gold and orange — the most photogenic

moment.
Midday in summer
The square becomes crowded and the heat can be intense.

There was an art market there this morning and neither of us were very impressed with any of it.

All the restaurants were very busy, which is good to see.