Why did Garibaldi’s forces land in Sicily in 1860?

Giuseppe Garibaldi led his forces to land in Sicily in 1860 as part of the Expedition of the Thousand, a campaign aimed at overthrowing the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to further the cause of Italian unification.12

The decision to launch the attack was triggered by an insurrection that began in Sicily on April 4, 1860. Because Sicily had a long history of extreme, endemic opposition to the Bourbon government, it was viewed as the most strategic location for a democratic revival. Garibaldi, who was committed to the national cause but impatient with the cautious diplomatic tactics of Piedmont’s prime minister, Count Cavour, chose to act on his own initiative. By landing at Marsala on May 11, 1860, he sought to capitalize on the existing revolutionary ferment to liberate the Italian south and integrate it into a unified nation under Victor Emmanuel II.12