Cristina Trivulzio

The revolutionary Cristina Trivulzio Belgioioso was born into a noble Italian family. She married at sixteen but her husband’s infidelities forced a separation and soon thereafter she began associating with Mazzinian revolutionaries. She lived in France during the 1830s and 1840s, where she helped other Italian exiles. In 1848, she organized and commanded a troop of soldiers and fought in Milan against the Austrians for Italy’s independence. Exiled after the failed insurrection, Trivulzio lived in Turkey for eight years before returning to Italy in 1856 and working with the statesman Camillo Benso Cavour, who unified the country in 1861.