User:CSUnderhill/sandbox

Luigi Ricci (1842 – September 1915) was a member of the Spanish nobility who initially trained as a Dante scholar and poet in Italy, before entering the Royal Military Academy in Italy. After fighting with Garibaldi However, he left before graduating in order to participate in the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866.

Time in Italy
Not much is known about Ricci's early life, other than that he was born into a noble Spanish family.

During his youth, Ricci travelled to Italy to study at the University of Padua, from which he obtained his BA. Following this he travelled to Bologna to become the student of the eminent poet Giosuè Carducci.

After enrolling at the Royal Military College in Italy to become an officer in the army of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, he left prior to graduating at the breakout of the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866.

At his own expense, he raised a compnay of vounteers to assist Giuseppe Garibaldi's Hunters of the Alps. Ricci fought at the Battle of Bezzecca, where he recalled that 10% of the 15,000 Italian troops under Garibaldi's command perished. Nevertheless, the battle resulted in Italian victory, and Ricci marched with Garibaldi on the town of Trieste. When they were almost at the gates of the town, Garibaldi received news of the armistice the King had negotiated with the Austrians, and he was ordered to cease hositlities. Ricci recollected that "Poor old Garibaldi had no share in making up the armistice. He was ordered to stop us and we had to go home without going any further."

Siege of Paris
At the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Ricci left Italy for Paris at the request of Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay, who was recruiting a force of Italian volunteers.