IMPORTANT AND RARE LETTER FROM GARIBALDI, INTRODUCING THE ITALIAN PATRIOT ALBA CORALLI of Bergamo to her English supporter MARY ELIZABETH CHAMBERS: A CROSS-SECTION OF THE HISTORY OF THE RISORGIMENTO, ALL FEMALE.

"Please serve this as a letter of recommendation for Mrs. ME Chambers, whose address is [….] London. With the introduction of Mrs. Chambers and the ladies who form the society she presides over for the good of young humanity, she could not have had better assistance than you, who possess such a sum of kindness and benevolence. Warm greetings to the family from yours for life, G. Garibaldi."

Alba Coralli was born on January 22, 1818, in Casteggio, a small village in the Oltrepò Pavese area. The eldest of three sisters (Maria, Enrica, and Ernesta), she was the daughter of Francesco, a liberal-minded notary who combined his profession with managing the lands of his wife, Marianna Cozzi di Valdinizza. She was educated at the "S. Agostino" college in Piacenza and the "Garnier" college in Milan. Having come into contact with liberal circles, C. took on the role of clandestine messenger in Milan to Piedmont and the Duchies. In 1842 she married Count Carlo Belcredi of Pancarana and Robecco, with whom she had three children (Piero, Rodolfo and Attilia, who died at a young age), returning to her native town after 1848. C. actively participated in the management of the boarding school founded in 1850 by her sisters Maria and Enrica (the "Casella" institute, named after Maria's husband) in S. Francesco di Albaro, near Genoa, where they had moved with their husbands after their involvement in the 1848 riots in Milan. In Genoa, C. had the opportunity to meet Giuseppe Mazzini, whose political views she fully shared. It was she who, in 1852, traveled to Milan to save Mazzini's supporter Attilio De Luigi from arrest and to explain to him the secret escape plan she had prepared. With the death of her husband and sisters, in 1853 she took in all her orphaned nieces and nephews, raising them alongside her own children. C. also dedicated herself to providing relief to the Genoese people struck by cholera in 1854, helping to found the Solidarietà nel Bene (Solidarity for the Good) organization to procure and distribute medical, material, and moral aid. In August 1855, she supported the founding of the newspaper "La Donna" to promote civic awareness among women. Having married Gabriele Camozzi, also a patriotic member of an influential Bergamo family, C. had a daughter with him, Maria Lisa, the future Countess Danieli. During the Risorgimento campaigns of 1859 and 1866, C. was involved in assistance and liaison.
Mary Elizabeth Chambers was an English benefactor and volunteer nurse in Storo with Garibaldi during the Third War of Independence. On November 2, 1852, Mary Elizabeth Perkins Chambers married British Lieutenant Colonel John Hunchinbotton Chambers, who published "Garibaldi and Italian Unity" in 1861 and fought with a battalion of British volunteers alongside Garibaldi in the 1866 campaign. Mary Elizabeth was part of a Committee of English women who promoted initiatives to assist the wounded, both English and Italian, and whose goals also included promoting education in Italy and the opening of industrial schools in Sardinia and elsewhere, for which the Committee hired teachers and provided support materials, books, and machinery. Mary Elizabeth was charged with organizing Garibaldi's visit to England by the welcoming committee. He came into contact with Italian exiles, in particular with Giuseppe Garibaldi and Giuseppe Mazzini.