On 24 May 1915, Italy, after having denounced the Triple Alliance stipulated in 1882 with Germany and Austria-Hungary and renewed several times, and having obtained from the Triple Entente with the Pact of London ample assurances regarding its claims, declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire to complete the work of national reunification that had remained interrupted after the three Wars of Independence of the Risorgimento era.

For almost a year, what contemporaries had called the Great War had broken out, and hundreds of Italian subjects of Vienna had exfiltrated from the Habsburg territories. They did not intend to fight in the imperial-royal army, but rather hoped for Italy's entry into the conflict to achieve the ideals of irredentism, that is, the redemption of the lands inhabited mainly by Italians still under Austrian rule. Others were enrolled and sent to fight in Galicia against the Tsarist empire, but then took the opportunity to desert and enlisted in the Italian troops. One of these was Guido Brunner.

Stephanie DiPasquale, The Unredeemed Hero of the Sassari Brigade. Life and Death of Guido Brunner. Trieste 1893 – Monte Fior 1916, Ravizza Editore, Varese 2024.

This volume retraces, through family documents and photographs, the life and death of the unredeemed hero from Trieste Guido Brunner, the first of the nine gold medals for Military Valor of the Sassari Brigade.

Belonging to a powerful pro-Habsburg family, he decided to strip himself of all privileges by taking to the field with the Italian infantry.

His dramatic death symbolizes the ultimate sacrifice of a young boy who gives his all for the cause of freedom of what he recognizes as his country.

According to the testimonies that make up this book, Guido was endowed with great humanity, education, sweetness and heroism, so much so that he made a breach in the hearts of his soldiers. Very few of them, however, knew his origins and his real name…