Anita Garibaldi died on March 26, 1849, near Ravenna, Italy, while fleeing with Giuseppe Garibaldi after the fall of the Roman Republic.
Anita Garibaldi died on March 26, 1849, at the Guiccioli farmhouse near Mandriole, close to Comacchio and Ravenna in the Papal States (modern Italy). She succumbed to illness, likely complicated by malaria and exhaustion, while pregnant and fleeing with her husband Giuseppe Garibaldi and his remaining volunteers after the collapse of the short-lived Roman Republic of 1849, which had been crushed by French and Austrian forces.
Anita had insisted on accompanying Garibaldi during the desperate retreat across the Apennines and through the marshlands of the Romagna, despite being heavily pregnant and gravely weakened. The couple were being pursued by Austrian and Papal troops, and safe havens were scarce. She died in Garibaldi's arms, and out of necessity, he was forced to bury her hastily and continue his flight to evade capture, only for her remains to be properly identified and reburied years later.
Her death transformed her into a martyr-heroine of the Italian Risorgimento, symbolizing sacrifice, loyalty, and the human cost of the unification struggle. Today she is memorialized with monuments in Rome (on the Janiculum Hill), Brazil, and Italy, and is celebrated as a national heroine in both countries — one of the few women honored equally as a symbol of two nations' founding narratives.