| Turin Massacre (1864) | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Piazza Castello and Piazza San Carlo, Turin, Italy |
| Date | September 21, 1864 September 22, 1864 |
| Deaths | 62 |
| Injured | 138 |
| Perpetrators | Carabinieri, Royal Italian Army |
| Motive | Repression of protests against the relocation of the capital |
The Turin massacre was a massacre carried out by members of the Royal Italian Army (mainly Carabinieri cadets) on September 21 and 22, 1864 against groups of civilian demonstrators. The clashes occurred during popular protests against the transfer of the capital of the Kingdom of Italy from the Piedmontese city to Florence.
In the afternoon of September 21, 1864, after clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement had taken place in Turin's Piazza San Carlo in the morning, a crowd of civilians armed with sticks attempted to approach the headquarters of the Ministry of the Interior in Piazza Castello, which was defended by a contingent of carabinieri cadets: the carabinieri fired on the demonstrators, causing 15 casualties. The following evening, Sep 22, new riots took place in Piazza San Carlo involving more carabinieri cadets who, in the confusion, fired indiscriminately on the crowd, also hitting members of an infantry battalion who were crossing the square and who also opened fire: 47 military and civilian personnel were killed in the crossfire.
The events caused the fall of the Minghetti government as well as several official inquiries by parliamentary commissions; however, all those arrested were subject to a general amnesty in February 1865.