In 1860, during Garibaldi's Expedition of the thousand, there was a riot. The peasants had hoped for ? and did not get from Garibaldi ? an immediate relief from the grievous conditions to which they were forced by the landowners. They revolted in several localities, and at Bronte, on August 4, 1860, Garibaldi's friend Nino Bixio bloodily repressed one of these revolts with two battalions of Redshirts.