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Solferino
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<h2 id="location">Location</h2> <p>Solferino is a town located at the northern foothills of the <a href="/facts/Po_Valley/ouh4TXtm">Po Valley</a>, in <a href="/facts/Upper_Mantua/fCLWQvoa">Upper Mantua</a> and on the border with the province of <a href="/facts/Brescia/Cq7QnCxX">Brescia</a>. </p><p>The municipal territory, extending for 13.08 km2, is part of the <a href="/facts/Moraine/NUoWIpka">Morainic</a> amphitheatre of <a href="/facts/Lake_Garda/HATlKXyR">Lake Garda</a>, located a few kilometres to the north. The altitude at the town hall is 124 m above sea level. Not far away also lies the province of Verona, with the towns of Peschiera del Garda and Valeggio sul Mincio, only a few kilometres to the east. </p><p>It is 35 km from Mantua (provincial capital), 40 km from Brescia and 45 km from <a href="/facts/Verona/tquPI1yc">Verona</a>. </p><p>It is bordered to the north by Brescia (<a href="/facts/Lonato_del_Garda/GBt63BGX">Lonato del Garda</a>), to the east by <a href="/facts/Cavriana/QaSTay5f">Cavriana</a>, to the south by <a href="/facts/Guidizzolo/w194Ddcz">Guidizzolo</a>, to the south-west by <a href="/facts/Medole/zdkXbS7J">Medole</a> and to the west by <a href="/facts/Castiglione_delle_Stiviere/VfSMAkta">Castiglione delle Stiviere</a>. </p> <h2 id="origins-of-the-name">Origins of the name</h2> <p>The origins of the name are to be found in the medieval adjective <i>sulphurinus</i>, which probably refer to a sulfurous stream, with probable reference to the sulfurous emanations of the <a href="/facts/Moraine/NUoWIpka">morainic</a> amphitheatre of Garda. </p> <h2 id="main-sights">Main sights</h2> <ul><li>The Rocca di Solferino, known as the "Spy of Italy", 23 metres high, erected in 1022. Inside memorabilia are found of the battle fought on June 24, 1859. The Società Solferino e San Martino, a body founded in 1870, takes care of its protection and conservation.</li> <li>The Red Cross Memorial, erected in 1959, in memory of the founder of the Red Cross Jean Henry Dunant.</li> <li>Piazza Castello, where the Castle of Orazio Gonzaga was erected.</li> <li>Monument to the Unification of Italy.</li></ul> <h2 id="museums">Museums</h2> <ul><li>The <a href="/facts/Ossuary/grm8BnyP">ossuary</a> of Solferino, 1870.</li> <li>The Museum of the Risorgimento of Solferino and San Martino, created in 1931, occupies three rooms where testimonies of the battle of 24 June 1859 are housed. This exhibition space collects material from the entire <a href="/facts/Italian_unification/B1x6mLbU">Risorgimento</a> period, from the Napoleonic era to the Third War of Independence.</li> <li>Museo La Rocca, known as the "Spy of Italy" because of its dominant position on the Lombardy-Veneto border.</li></ul> <h2 id="events">Events</h2> <p>Every year in the village there is the spring festival and the children's market, a market of arts and crafts of daily life with narratives and animation. In addition, in June, there is the now famous Beer Festival, a great attraction for the young public of the provinces of Mantua, Brescia, Verona. </p><p>Periodically historical reenactments of the Battle of Solferino and San Martino are organized. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary, it was held on 28 June 2009. </p><p>Furthermore, every year on the weekend closest to 24 June, in memory of the battle witnessed by Henry Dunant and which inspired him to create the International Red Cross, there are a series of events organised by the association itself in which members can attend various courses, culminating with a suggestive torch-lit procession commemorated on the Saturday evening, from the square of the church of Solferino to Castiglione delle Stiviere. </p> <h2 id="twin-towns">Twin towns</h2> <p>Solferino is <a href="/facts/Town_twinning/NVzDyA7v">twinned</a> with: </p> <ul><li><a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3"></a> <a href="/facts/Solf%25C3%25A9rino/PGEcPCdd">Solférino</a>, France, since 1963</li> <li><a href="/facts/France/CxIeIKM3"></a> <a href="/facts/Ch%25C3%25A2tillon-sur-Indre/IAPDX37w">Châtillon-sur-Indre</a>, France, since 2003</li></ul> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Lake_of_Garda/HATlKXyR">Lake of Garda</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Mantua/qrJf7rqk">Mantua</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Lombardy/2p62Pxuc">Lombardy</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Desenzano_del_Garda/7zkWMhIB">Desenzano del Garda</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Peschiera_del_Garda/6RSl1Qdt">Peschiera del Garda</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Rocca_di_Manerba_del_Garda/PfquUsd4">Rocca di Manerba del Garda</a></li></ul> Wikimedia Commons has media related to Solferino.