Solferino

Solferino is a small village (frazione) of Castiglione delle Stiviere, in the Lombardy region of northern Italy. It is located in the province of Mantua, near the town of Castiglione delle Stiviere, in a rural part of the Lombardy plain.

Solferino is best known as the site of the Battle of Solferino, fought on 24 June 1859 during the Second Italian War of Independence between the French-Sardinian alliance and the Austrian Empire. The battle was a major engagement of the campaign to unify Italy and contributed to the withdrawal of Austrian forces from Lombardy and the broader process that led to the unification of much of the Italian peninsula under the House of Savoy.

The battle's aftermath had a significant humanitarian impact. Henry Dunant, a Swiss businessman and humanitarian who witnessed the fighting, wrote A Memory of Solferino (1862), an account that helped catalyze the founding of the International Red Cross and inspired the development of the Geneva Conventions.

Today, Solferino remains a rural locality whose surrounding landscape is characterized by farmland and small settlements. The site of the 1859 battle is commemorated by monuments and memory markers, and the area preserves elements of its historical landscape. The village is part of the Mantua province and remains connected to the Lombardy region by local roads, with cultural interest focused on history, memory, and the surrounding natural environment.