A precursor of the 'irredentists' was the unification leader Giuseppe Garibaldi who, in 1859 as deputy for his native Nice in the Piedmontese parliament at Turin, attacked Cavour for ceding Nice to Napoleon III in order to get French help and approval for Italian Unification.
It was, however, mainly superficial, as most Italians did not wish a dangerous policy against Austria, and even less against France for the sake of Nice and Corsica , or against Britain for Malta .