Atlas of Battles

battle, major, nineteenth century

Battle of Custoza

Battle of Custoza was a battle fought on 24 June 1866 at Custoza, in what is now Italy. It was part of Third Italian War of Independence. The recorded result: Austrian victory. Recorded strength: 120,000 available; 50,000 involved against 75,000 mobilized; 46+ guns.

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13th Regiment of Austrian-Hungarian Uhlans under the col. Rodakowski attacks Italian Bersaglierii during the Battle of Custozza in 1866
13th Regiment of Austrian-Hungarian Uhlans under the col. Rodakowski attacks Italian Bersaglierii during the Battle of Custozza in 1866. Juliusz Kossak, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought24 June 1866
WhereCustoza, Italy45.379N, 10.796E
OutcomeAustrian victory
BelligerentsKingdom of ItalyagainstAustrian Empire
Part ofThird Italian War of Independence1866

Where it sits in Third Italian War of Independence

Naval operations on Lake Garda (1866), 1866Battle of Custoza, 1866Battle of Borgoforte, 1866Battle of Lissa, 1866Battle of Montelibretti, 1867Battle of Villa Glori, 1867Battle of Monterotondo, 1867Battle of Mentana, 186718661867Battle of Custoza, 1866
8 placed engagements of Third Italian War of Independence in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date24 June 1866
PlaceCustoza, Italy
45.379N, 10.796E
KindBattle, nineteenth century
Strength120,000 available; 50,000 involved75,000 mobilized; 46+ guns
Casualties and losses714 or 720 killed; 2,576 or 3,112 wounded; 4,101 or 4,315 captured and missing; 6 guns captured960 or 1,170 killed; 3,690 or 3,984 wounded; 1,000 or 2,802 captured and missing
Commanders
  • Alfonso Ferrero La Marmora
  • Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen
  • Franz von John
Battle of CustozaBattle of CustozaBattle of CustozaBattle of BorghettoBattle of PozzoloBattle of PeschieraSiege of PeschieraBattle of CustozaBattle of PeschieraGenoaBolognaBergamoParmaRavennaFerraraTrentoLugano100 km45.379N, 10.796E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Custoza
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Custoza today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-09-19. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 151 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 43 to 189 m, 146 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 50% grassland, 24% cropland, 22% tree cover.

grassland: 50%cropland: 24%tree cover: 22%built-up: 4%grassland 50%cropland 24%tree cover 22%built-up 4%
west to east, 10.0 km61 to 173 mnorth to south, 10.0 km61 to 166 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

Contested ground: this site was fought over 6 times between 1796 and 1866.

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1866

Combat data (CDB90)

Attacker: ITAL ARMYDefender: AUS ARMY
Strength90,00075,000
Casualties8,100 (9.0%)5,600 (7.5%)
Mission accomplishment, 1 to 1036
Outcomedefender won
Duration1 day
Attacker advanced0 km

From the US Army Concepts Analysis Agency Database of Battles (CDB90, battle 170), public domain, in the CC0 tidy edition by Jeffrey B. Arnold. Figures are the database's estimates, compiled in 1990 from published histories, and may differ from the Wikipedia infobox above.

Battle of Custoza is one of 3,507 engagements of the 19th century in the atlas and one of 942 in present-day Italy.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q48163, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Custoza (1866), revision 1385577634, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.