Monument à Garibaldi

Monument à Garibaldi stands at the centre of Place Garibaldi in Nice, surrounded by eighteenth-century baroque façades and trompe-l’œil paintings. In this historic square, the sculpture commemorates Giuseppe Garibaldi, who was born in Nice and became a leading figure in Italian unification.

Antoine Étex began the design, and Gustave Deloye completed it after Étex died in 1888. Inaugurated in 1891, the monument shows Garibaldi in his red shirt, with his right fist clenched and his left arm resting on his sword. France and Italy watch over his cradle below, while two bronze lions represent his sons, Menotti and Ricciotti. Each lion rests against a cannon marked 1860 or 1870, linking the monument to the Expedition of the Thousand and the Battle of Dijon.

A bronze relief on the rear depicts Nice among the nations, while ship prows recall Garibaldi’s maritime family background. His gaze follows the Avenue de la République towards Turin, the former Royal Road’s destination. Restoration moved the structure about 18 metres in 2007, and the surrounding basin now forms a 17-metre square.