Mentana (a town of approximately 22,000 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Rome, 25km north of Rome on Via Nomentana, the ancient Roman consular road from Rome to Nomentum) is the site of the Battle of Mentana (November 3, 1867, the engagement in which Giuseppe Garibaldi's volunteer force of approximately 8,000 men was defeated by the combined Papal Zouaves and French troops using the new Chassepot rifles, losing approximately 150 killed and 1,600 captured, and setting back the Italian nationalist campaign to capture Rome by three years). The Mentana battle is the penultimate act of the Risorgimento drama before the Breccia di Porta Pia (September 20, 1870, when Italian troops finally entered Rome through the breach in the Aurelian Wall): the specific episode where the French military technology (the Chassepot rifle, which outranged the Garibaldini weapons) demonstrated the limits of nationalist volunteer courage against professional military equipment.
The Museo della Battaglia di Mentana (the museum in the town center, in the Palazzo Crescenzi, open Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-13:00 and 15:00-18:00, admission free) presents the 1867 battle with specific documentary richness: the French Chassepot rifle that turned the battle, the Garibaldini equipment, the maps of the engagement, and the personal memorabilia of both commanders (Garibaldi's correspondence from the period, the French commander de Failly's battle dispatch). The battlefield itself (the fields around Mentana, visible from the town approach road) has no specific monument beyond the ossuary (the burial site of the fallen) and the occasional commemorative plaque.
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Mentana: Battle and Ancient City
The Battle of Mentana (1867)
The specific Mentana military context: Garibaldi's "Volunteers of the Roman Question" had crossed into Papal territory in October 1867 with the aim of provoking a popular uprising in Rome and forcing the Italian state (which had signed the September Convention of 1864 pledging to protect the Papal State from Italian nationalist incursion) to act. The uprising didn't materialize. The Garibaldini found themselves facing professional troops in difficult terrain. And the French Chassepot rifle (adopted in 1866, with an effective range of 1,500m versus the 600m of the Garibaldini muskets) produced the specific asymmetric firepower advantage that broke the Garibaldi attack. The French commander's famous telegram to Paris after the battle, "Les chassepots ont fait merveille" (The Chassepots worked wonders), became the most quoted ironic comment on the technological dimension of the Risorgimento.
Ancient Nomentum
Ancient Nomentum (the Latin city on Via Nomentana, documented from the 6th century BC, one of the thirty Latin cities of the Feriae Latinae, the Latin religious festival held annually on the Alban Hills) left specific traces in the Mentana territory: Via Nomentana alignment (the modern road largely follows the ancient), the ancient city walls (sections visible in the Mentana historic center foundations), and the Livy reference to Nomentum as a city loyal to Rome during the Latin War of 340-338 BC. The Mentana Museo Civico (adjacent to the Museo della Battaglia) presents the Nomentum archaeological finds.
Q&A: Mentana
How do I reach Mentana from Rome?
By car: 25km north of Rome via Via Nomentana (SS36, the straight Roman road, approximately 40 minutes from central Rome). By public transport: COTRAL bus from Ponte Mammolo Metro B (approximately 45 minutes). The Mentana visit (the museum, the town center, a walk on the battlefield approach road) takes 2-3 hours. Best combined with Monterotondo (5km north, the larger Via Nomentana town with its own medieval center) for a half-day outing.
Internal Links
- Risorgimento Italiano: Mentana nel Contesto
- Lazio Nord in Autunno: Mentana e la Via Nomentana
- Via Nomentana: I Borghi della Strada Romana
- Museo della Battaglia di Mentana: Ingresso Gratuito
- Fotografare i Campi di Battaglia del Risorgimento
- Nomentum e le Città Latine: Prima di Roma
- Come Arrivare a Mentana da Roma
