The 2011 Giro d'Italia will start from Italy's first capital, Turin (Torino), in celebration of Italy's 150th anniversary of unification. The complete 2011 Giro d'Italia route was revealed earlier today in Turin.

The 2011 Tour of Italy cycling race will have an historic tone to it as it celebrates the 150th anniversary of the unification of the country when the stages were revealed by the organisers on Saturday.

The race - which begins in Turin on May 7 and ends in Milan on May 29 - will aside from travelling through places that featured prominently in the events surrounding the unification of the country will also visit other legendary Italian spots such as Sicilian volcano Mount Etna.

However, three stages celebrate the route taken by Italian legend Giuseppe Garibaldi and his Red Shirt freedom fighters: the fourth stage begins in the Quarto district of Genoa from where Garibaldi and his men departed for Sicily on the beginning of their historic adventure.

The seventh stage passes by Teano (now Vairano Patenora) where Garibaldi met with the future first king of Italy Victor Emmanuel II and the 11th stage climaxes at Castelfidardo the site of the Red Shirts' decisive victory over the Papal troops.

Etna - still very much an active volcano - will have to be climbed twice during the ninth stage before the riders confront what could prove to be the decisive moment of the race at the end of the second week when they take on the Alps.

They have to climb the famed Zoncolan by its toughest route, the Austrian side on the 13th and 14th stages with the Grossglockner, the Passo di Giau (2236m) and the Marmolada, followed by an individual time-trial (16th stages) from Belluno to Nevegal following a much-deserved rest day.

The final two stages are fairly intimidating with the climb of Finestra and riding on its clay surfaced roads before the final stage, an individual time-trial round the Milan cathedral and its square.

Vincenzo Nibali, third in the 2010 Giro d'Italia and 2010 Vuelta a Espana winner, told Roadcycling.com "[The 2011 Giro] is a very difficult and hard Giro. It is to be studied carefully. There are several features that I do not know. But I think that I've definitely had the opportunity to get to know the most difficult ones."

Commenting on the Giro d'Italia 2011 route Team Sky sports director Sean Yates told Roadcycling.com "It's savage, there's no other description for it. (laughing) Seven mountain-top finishes has got to be some kind of record, and the fact that they are hard ones as well means it's going to be an unbelievably tough race. It'll be great to watch from a spectator's point of view, though."

Yates added "Although the team hasn't been decided yet, we are going to have someone there who'll be looking to contest the GC, and if they are able to ride consistently well over the three weeks then they will have a great chance of finishing right up the standings."

It will be the first time in three years that the race finishes in Milan after climaxing in Rome - for its 100th edition - and then Verona and the organisers will be hoping for a similarly cliffhanger of a finish as the last time.

Then Russian Denis Menchov led into it by 20 seconds over Danilo Di Luca and ended up winning by 41 seconds.

Stay with Roadcycling.com and our mobile cycling news site Roadcycling.mobi for all of the news during the run-up to the 2011 Giro d'Italia and check back during the 2011 Giro for our 2011 Giro d'Italia video coverage.