Rosalia Montmasson

Rose Montmasson (January 12, 1823 – November 10, 1904), also known as Rosalia Montmasson, was an Italian patriot. Born in Savoy, Montmasson contributed to the unification of Italy and was notably the only woman to openly participate in Giuseppe Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand, both as a nurse and as a soldier.

Biography Montmasson was born in Haute-Savoie, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, in 1823. The daughter of a landed farmer, she was part of a large family and received an elementary education. She worked in the fields with her family until the age of 15, when the death of her mother prompted her to find work abroad. Though much of her early work history is unknown, she lived in Marseille and later in Turin. At some point she met and became a companion of Francesco Crispi, an exiled political activist who moved from city to city; according to some sources, the couple met in 1849 while Crispi was imprisoned in Turin, while others note that the two might have previously met in Marseille.

While on Malta, both Crispi and Montmasson became increasingly involved with the disparate political community on the island, which was made up of a number of people exiled from the Italian mainland. The couple were married in 1854 (albeit with some resistance from Crispi) and would later depart for London, making a stop in Savoie to visit the Montmasson family. Once in London, the couple would become strong advocates for Italian unification, going so far as to travel to continental Europe to gather support for the cause. During this time, Montmasson would smuggle messages, supplies, and weapons to various pro-unification committees inside Italy. though the marriage was not officially annulled until Crispi (after remarrying) was accused of bigamy in a major political scandal. and died in Rome. She was – at her request – buried in a red shirt, the traditional attire for members of the Expedition of the Thousand.

In 2018, Maria Attanasio published the first and only biography on Rosalia Montmasson, called La Ragazza di Marsiglia, only available in Italian.