In the mid-19th century northern Italy was one of the most influential centers of Polish political emigration. It was there that the Polish Military School was founded in 1861 with the help of the Italian government. It was the most important place for training the military command for the January Uprising.

Preparations for the January Uprising in exile
The cooperation between the Polish and Italian revolutionary movements started in the 1840s. It was strengthened in 1860, when Giuseppe Garibaldi appointed Ludwik Mierosławski, who was in Paris at the time, as commander of the international legion in Naples. The legion was never formed, but the fundraising and propaganda activities carried out in the foreign and domestic press aroused great interest among the Polish youth, who left for France and Italy in large numbers, determined to enlist. It was important to provide at least minimum guidance to the young Poles before the actual establishment of the legion, so at the beginning of December 1860 a series of military courses was organized in Paris, which later became a preparatory course for future officers of the insurgent army. Its director was Ludwik Mierosławski, and the deputy director was General Józef Wysocki. The course was conducted until July 1861. After the course was dissolved the Polish youth started to organize the life abroad on their own, as the old emigration was divided against itself and did not provide them with any support in their fight for the Polish cause.

In November 1861 the Society of Polish Youth was founded to help the leaders of the national movement in the country to organize an armed uprising. This action also included the provision of well trained officers, whose education was to be taken care of by the projected Polish Military School. In view of the reluctance of the French authorities towards this initiative, efforts were made to secure the Italian government’s support instead.

Establishment of the Polish Military School
Thanks to Garibaldi's intervention, a Polish-Italian Committee was established in Turin in July 1861, which took steps to found the Polish Military School. Finally, at the end of September that year, the government of the Kingdom of Italy consented to its establishment in Genoa. The authorities provided the premises (a three-storey brick building called Casa Bianchetti) and donated money for its renovation, adaptation and furnishing. Young Poles from other regions of Italy, as well as some of the immigrants from Paris, began to head for Genoa. As early as at the beginning of October 1861 there were 70 prospective students in the city.

At the end of the year Ludwik Mierosławski also came to Genoa, and began to reform the school according to his own rules, aiming at subordinating the students. Very soon he found himself in conflict with the patriotic party in the country, and his dictatorial tendencies led to his pupils’ renouncing their obedience to him. Due to these conflicts he also lost Garibaldi's trust and at the end of February 1862 he left the school, heading for Paris. The Polish Military School found itself in crisis, with the number of students reduced to under thirty. Gen. Józef Wysocki, formerly Mierosławski’s deputy, was given a mission to rectify the situation. He arrived in Genoa on 27 March 1862, but since he could not stay there permanently, he appointed deputies: Colonel Aleksander Fijałkowski - the school's commander-in-chief, and Colonel Aleksander Waligórski - director of studies. The new staff managed to restore proper order to the school. The classes were conducted in the faculties of infantry, cavalry and artillery. The weekly schedule was carefully defined, and, in addition to the basic courses in these three faculties, included gymnastics, fencing, practical exercises in drawing up cartographic plans, as well as lectures on the theory of war and field fortifications. The non-commissioned officer course lasted three months and the officer course lasted at least six months.

The Polish soldiers wore short grey frock coats with decorative frogs (czamara) and red four-pointed caps (rogatywka) with a white fur band. Their proper education in the field of commanding infantry and cavalry units was taken care of by a numerous well-prepared pedagogical staff (including Marian Langiewicz, Adolf Dulfuss, Józef Czapski, Aleksander Łodzia-Rogaliński).

The School at Cuneo
At the end of April 1862 the new command decided to move the Polish Military School to Cuneo - a town in Piedmont, picturesquely situated at the foot of the Alps. The town had about 5000 inhabitants at that time. The new premises were much more convenient, in the building of the former College of St. Francis - a medieval complex of church and monastery, whose oldest parts dated back to the 13th century. In spring 1862 more young men arrived from Poland and the number of students reached about a hundred. At that time the uniforms of the students were changed into navy blue coats with amaranth trimmings, modelled on those of the Polish legionaries from the Spring of Nations in Hungary, and white jackets and red caps in the summer.

Soon the Polish Military School in Italy became so famous in Poland and internationally that the Russian Empire began to perceive it as a threat. Finally, Russia gave the Italian government an ultimatum: Russia promised to accord the Kingdom of Italy the long-awaited official recognition on condition that the school be dissolved. Under the political pressure king Victor Emmanuel issued the order first to suspend the school, and then, on 26 June 1862, to close it.

The Polish left Cuneo at the end of July 1862. This was the end of the Polish Military School, because the attempts to transfer it to another country (England or Sweden) did not succeed.

Commanders of the January Uprising
Within the 10-month period of its existence, the Polish Military School educated over 200 non-commissioned officers and officers, almost all of whom took an active part in the January Uprising. Although it was short-lived and riddled with internal conflict within its command, the Polish Military School was really important in Polish history. Among its graduates were the best commanders of the Polish partisan war of 1863-1864, such as Józef Oxiński and Roman Rogiński.