Five Days of Milan

The Five Days of Milan were a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On March 18, a rebellion arose in the city of Milan, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his Austrian soldiers from the city.

In 1848, the Milanese launched an anti-Austrian campaign as early as the first of January. On New Years Day the Milanese started to boycott gambling and tobacco products, which were Austrian monopolies and brought in over 5 million lire a year. Archduke Rainer Joseph of Austria, viceroy of Lombardy and Venetia, retaliated by ordering out police with cigars to provoke the crowd.  The boycott culminated in a bloody street battle on the third of January, when Austrian soldiers, in batches of 3 were being insulted and pelted with stones by an angry crowd. Now, the soldiers gathered together in groups of a dozen and charged the crowd with swords and bayonets, killing 5 and wounding another 59.  Radetzky was horrified at the doings of his troops and confined them to five days barracks. The protests were over, but two months later, when news reached Milan of the uprising in Vienna and the fall of Metternich, the Milanese took to the streets again, on 18 March.

History
Almost simultaneous with the popular uprisings of 1848 in the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, on 18 March that year, the city of Milan also rose. This was the first evidence of how effective popular initiative, guided by those in the Risorgimento, was able to influence Charles Albert of Sardinia.

The Austrian garrison at Milan was well-equipped and commanded by an experienced general Josef Radetzky, who despite being over 80 years old, was energetic and rigid, the true expression of Austrian military severity. Radetzky had no intention of yielding to the uprising.

However, the whole city fought throughout the streets, raising barricades, firing from windows and roofs, and urging the rural population to join them. They formed a provisional government of Milan presided over by the podestà, Gabrio Casati and a council of war under Carlo Cattaneo. The Martinitt (orphanage children) worked as message-runners to all parts of the town.

Radetzky saw the difficulty of resisting under siege in the city centre, but while afraid of being attacked by the Piedmontese army and peasants from the countryside, he preferred to withdraw. On the evening of 22 March 1848, the Austrians withdrew towards the "Quadrilatero" (the fortified zone made up of the four cities of Verona, Legnago, Mantua and Peschiera del Garda), taking with them several hostages arrested at the start of the uprising. Meanwhile, the rest of Lombard and Venetic territory was free.

In memory of these days, the official newspaper of the temporary government was born, called simply Il 22 marzo (the 22nd March), which began publication on 26 March at the Palazzo Marino under the direction of Carlo Tenca. A monument to the uprising by the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi was built at now Porta Vittoria.