Summararily:The revolts occured because of gossip that was going around in the city. It was heard that Piedmont - defeated by Novara during the War of Indipendence and in debt with the Austrians - was ready to give Genoa to the Austrians in order to pay off all the debts. This of course was not the only reason. After the revolt (Austria was always the enemy for Genoa), reinforcements of Piemontese troops were called in. When they entered the city they commited every sort of robbery and cruelty imanaginable against the population. The Genoese revolts of 1849 are not well known to everybody, and most of the times they aren´t even mentioned in the schoolbooks; the reason, presumeably, is because, after the fact, the monarchy wanted to minimise the shameful event and make sure it was forgotten.