Giovanni Durando (23 June 1804 – 27 May 1869) was an Italian general and politician.

Biography

Born at Mondovì, in what is now the

province of Cuneo Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur ( departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Haut ...

, he entered the Royal Guard corps of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia,The name of the state was originally Latin: , or when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica. In Italian it is , in French , in Sardinian , and in Piedmontese . also referred to as the Kingdom of Savoy-S ...

in 1822. In the 1830s, after having been discovered as member of a liberal plot which aimed to extort a constitution from king Charles Felix, he moved first to France and then to

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, where he enrolled in a foreign corps of Belgian Revolution. Later he became officer of the

constitutionalist army The Constitutional Army ( es, Ejército constitucionalista; also known as the Constitutionalist Army) was the army that fought against the Federal Army, and later, against the Villistas and Zapatistas during the Mexican Revolution. It was forme ...

of Pedro IV of Portugal. In 1835 he became officer of the Hunters of Oporto Regiment. Later, he was Major General of the Papal Army, in command of a Papal division in the

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

, where he was not able to fulfil his task of stopping general Nugent's Austrian forces. In the same year he was appointed as Lieutenant General of the Sardinian/Piedmontese army. He participated to all the

Italian War of Independence The War of Italian Independence, or Italian Wars of Independence, include: * First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849) *Second Italian War of Independence (1859) *Third Italian War of Independence (1866) * Fourth Italian War of Independence ( ...

(1848–1849, 1859 and 1866) and in the Italian Expedition in the Crimean War (1855–1856). He was wounded in the

Battle of Custoza (1866) The Battle of Custoza took place on the 24 June 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence in the Italian unification process. The Austrian Imperial army, joined by the Venetian Army, jointly commanded by Archduke Albrecht of Habsbu ...

, where he was in command of the I Corps. In 1849 Durando spent a period in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

where he quenched popular revolts in Sassari and in

Gallura Gallura ( sdn, Gaddura or ; sc, Caddura ) is a region in North-Eastern Sardinia, Italy. The name ''Gallùra'' is allegedly supposed to mean "stony area". Geography Gallùra has a surface of and it is situated between 40°55'20"64 latitude ...

. Durando became senator of Sardinia (later,

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

) in 1860. The following year he took part in the suppression of brigandage in the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. He died at Florence in 1869. His brother Giacomo was also a general and senator (and fought with Giovanni in Belgium, Portugal and Spain), while another brother, Giovanni Antonio, was army general.

Sources

"Giovanni Durando"
in the

Enciclopedia Italiana The ''Enciclopedia Italiana di Scienze, Lettere e Arti'' ( Italian for "Italian Encyclopedia of Science, Letters, and Arts"), best known as ''Treccani'' for its developer Giovanni Treccani or ''Enciclopedia Italiana'', is an Italian-language ...

''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani''
Page at Italian Senate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Durando, Giovanni 1804 births 1869 deaths People from Mondovì Italian generals Italian people of the Italian unification Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy Members of the Senate of the Kingdom of Sardinia People of the First Italian War of Independence People of the Second Italian War of Independence People of the Third Italian War of Independence