8 February 1848

In a climate of strong political tension which, in the first months of the year, seems to involve regimes and governments in several parts of Italy and Europe, in Padua too a certain anti-Habsburg feeling linking students and citizens begins to grow ever stronger.
It is 7 February 1848 when, in the city, more than 5,000 people from all social classes take part in the funeral of a student (who died of natural causes). Among them, defying the law and in open opposition to the Austrian government, several hundred young people appear dressed in the Italian style together with the servants of aristocratic families, in livery. Tension is extremely high.
The following day, a delegation of leading figures, citizens and students submits a series of demands to the Austrian command, which are rejected. This is the spark that ignites the clash between Austrian soldiers, people from Padua and students. Guerrilla fighting begins; the Austrians also fire on those students who seek refuge inside Caffè Pedrocchi and the University. The toll is dozens injured and several dead, two of whom are the students Giovanni Leoni and Giambattista Ricci.

The revolt ends with the Austrian army’s ‘surrender’, which withdraws in the face of the overwhelming number of opponents; the following day, however, the response is swift: 73 students are expelled, many arrested, and four professors are dismissed from their posts.

That of 8 February 1848 in Padua is considered the first insurrection driven by political motives in which students became both interpreters and protagonists of what would become a true season of renewal. A revolution that preceded not only the Five Days of Milan, but also the uprisings in major capitals such as Paris (22–24 February) and Vienna (13 March).
The protest days of ’48 were followed by others which, until 1866, saw the students of the Paduan University repeatedly involved in anti-Austrian demonstrations, regularly ending in arrests and expulsions and culminating in a major demonstration in 1865 during which hundreds of students, in the Cortile Antico del Bo, set fire to several copies of the Syllabus of Pius IX.

Further information

The strength of 1848 in Veneto
1848, the students’ tribute to national ideals
The students who caused an uproar