The British Italian Legion was created in the summer of 1855 as a reinforcement to the British army in Crimea, already weakened by the siege of Sevastopol. Volunteers were garrisoned in Novara and Chivasso until February 1856, when they were found to be plotting a patriotic uprising plan. This nearly led Austria and Piedmont-Sardinia to a diplomatic crisis and, therefore, the English government was forced to move the entire legion to Malta. The end of the Crimean War and the clashes between legionaries and the Maltese people inevitably caused the disbandment of the corp, starting from May 1856. Although most of the soldiers wanted to return to Piedmont, the government of Turin only allowed entry to its subjects. The remaining 1500 legionaries, who had mostly been longtime residents in the Kingdom of Sardinia, were transferred to England. During the sea crossing, Lieutenant Francesco Angherà, who was strongly connected to Mazzinian circles, unsuccessfully incited his comrades to land in Calabria and to foment an anti-Bourbon uprising. Only at the end of the summer, the Piedmontese leaders accepted to endorse the return of the remaining soldiers: most of them set sail for Genoa, while a smaller part was recruited by the Argentinian government to build a militaryagricultural colony. This paper is based on previous publications and is enriched by several unpublished documents, both Italian and English, and coeval newspaper articles. Thanks to these sources it has been possible to highlight the revolutionary events that the legion went through and the legionaries’ difficult homecoming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]