Nino Bonnet

Patriot

His father, originally from Marseille, had arrived in Comacchio in 1811 to take charge of the lagoon salt pans during their modernization in the middle of the Napoleonic period. Having acquired a small estate and been appointed municipal councilor in 1839, Agostino Stefano finally became a full member of the local political elite, which had taken a radical turn.

Given the particular environmental and family context, it was no coincidence that Gioacchino, who had previously joined Giovane Italia between the end of 1847 and the beginning of 1848, became one of the leading figures of the local Risorgimento movement. The arrival in Comacchio of Masini’s lancers to encourage voluntary enlistments on November 3, 1848, and, arranged directly with Bonnet in Ravenna, Garibaldi himself on the following 18th, quickly became a powerful catalyst for patriotic mobilization in the city. That same evening, upon hearing the news of Pellegrino Rossi's assassination, Masini and his lancers embarked at Magnavacca. Eleven volunteers from Comacchio left with them, including two brothers of Bonnet himself, Raimondo and Gaetano, the latter destined to fall in defense of Rome the following year.
After the fall of the Roman Republic, on the night of August 3, 1849, the thirteen boats that had set sail from Cesenatico carrying Garibaldi and his men on their way to Venice were intercepted by Austrian ships. The following morning, two bragozzi landed on the coast, then almost uninhabited, between Magnavacca and Volano. Most of them scattered inland and were captured by the Austrians in the following days. However, Garibaldi, Anita, and Giovan Battista Culiolo (Leggero) were rescued by Bonnet, who rushed to the scene after hearing the cannon fire at sea. The events of the “Garibaldi roundup” reveal a strong chain of support and popular solidarity without which Garibaldi's rescue would have been objectively impossible. He took part in numerous military campaigns and, for the heroism he demonstrated in particular at Milazzo and Volturno in 1860, he was awarded the silver medal for military valor and promoted to lieutenant colonel of the general staff. Nino Bonnet, who would later be elected mayor of his hometown in 1877, died in Magnavacca (renamed Porto Garibaldi in his memory in 1919) on December 31, 1890. His participation in Garibaldi’s rescue is remembered in the autograph volume "Lo sbarco di Garibaldi a Magnavacca". The historical episode of 1849.