Battle of Bezzecca
Battle of Bezzecca
The Battle of Bezzecca was fought on 21 July 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence. It took place in Bezzecca, Trentino, in the Tyrol region and ended in an Italian victory.
Belligerents were the Kingdom of Italy and the Austrian Empire. The Italian force was led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, while the Austrians were commanded by General Franz Kuhn von Kuhnenfeld. Both sides had about 12,000 troops.
Casualties and losses were:
- Italian: about 121 killed or missing, 451 wounded, and 1,070 captured
- Austrian: about 25 killed or missing, 82 wounded, and 100 captured
The Austrians attacked and occupied Bezzecca. Garibaldi’s volunteers, the Corpo Truppe Volontarie, counterattacked to retake the town. Garibaldi, wounded earlier, rode on the battlefield in a coach. Italian artillery captured a hill near the town, and a determined infantry assault forced the Austrians to withdraw to their mountain positions.
The victory opened the way toward Trento for Garibaldi and for regular Italian troops under Giacomo Medici, who won further battles at Primolano, Valsugana, and Levico.
After the fighting, Italian medical services were overstretched. British accounts note Mary Chambers helped the wounded by making bandages, buying supplies, and cleaning wounds.
On 9 August an armistice was announced, and the Italian commander La Marmora ordered Italians to abandon Trentino to pursue a peace agreement recognizing Veneto’s annexation. In Bezzecca square, Garibaldi famously answered with a single word: “Obbedisco!” (I obey).
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 14:09 (CET).