SOLFERINO  , a

village of Lombardy, Italy, in the province of Mantua, 5 m . S.W. of San Martino della Battaglia (a railway station 72 M . E. of Milan on the lineto Verona), situated 410 ft. above sea-level, on the south-west edge of the hills bordering the Lake of Garda on the south . Pop . (1901), 1350 . It was the scene of a battle fought on the 24th of June 1859 between the allied Franco-Sardinian army under Napoleon III. and Victor Emanuel, and the Austrian army commanded by Francis Joseph IL, in which, after a severe contest, the latter retired over the Mincio "(see ITALIAN WARS) . The battle fought by the Sardinians on the left wing of the allied army is often called by the separate title of San Martino, from a hamlet near the Brescia-Verona railway, about which it was fought . From this battle, a certain shade of blue was designated by the name of Solferino, and was very popular for some years, though now, unlike its companion " magenta," it is forgotten .