Unification of Italy
In summary
Italian unification, or the Risorgimento, brought together in a single state a peninsula that had been divided since the early Middle Ages. After the failure of the 1848 revolutions, the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, under Victor Emmanuel II and his minister Cavour, took the lead of the movement. Its alliance with Napoleon III's France drove Austria out of Lombardy in 1859, while Garibaldi's Expedition of the Thousand brought down the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1860. The Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on 17 March 1861; Venetia joined it in 1866, and Rome, taken on 20 September 1870, became its capital in 1871.
What you need to know
After Napoleon's fall, the Congress of Vienna (1815) restored an Italy divided into a patchwork of states. Austria dominated the peninsula: it held the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia and wielded influence over the central duchies, while the pope ruled the Papal States and the Bourbons the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. A national movement nonetheless took shape: secret societies such as the Carbonari, Young Italy, founded in 1831 by Giuseppe Mazzini, who championed a unitary republic, and a moderate current in favour of a federation.
In 1848, Italy rose up like the rest of Europe. On 4 March, King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia granted a constitution, the Albertine Statute, then declared war on Austria on 23 March, after the uprising in Milan. Defeated at Custoza and then at Novara (March 1849), he abdicated in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel II. The Roman Republic, proclaimed in 1849 and defended by Garibaldi, was crushed by a French army that restored the pope. Piedmont alone kept its constitution, which made it the patriots' rallying point.
Prime minister from 1852, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, modernised Piedmont and sought allies. At Plombières, in July 1858, he obtained from Napoleon III a promise of military support against Austria, in exchange for Nice and Savoy. The war of 1859 saw the Franco-Piedmontese victories of Magenta and Solferino, but in July Napoleon III signed the armistice of Villafranca: Piedmont gained only Lombardy. In 1860, Tuscany, Parma, Modena and Romagna voted to join Piedmont, and France received Nice and Savoy.
In May 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi landed at Marsala, in Sicily, with about a thousand volunteers, the “Redshirts”. He conquered the island, then entered Naples in September: the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies collapsed. To bar his way to Rome, Cavour sent the Piedmontese army through the Marches and Umbria, taken from the pope. On 26 October, at Teano, Garibaldi handed his conquests over to Victor Emmanuel II. On 17 March 1861, the first Italian Parliament, meeting in Turin, proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy; Cavour died less than three months later.
Unification remained incomplete. Allied with Prussia against Austria, the kingdom gained Venetia in 1866, despite its defeats at Custoza and Lissa. Rome, protected by a French garrison, was taken only on 20 September 1870, after the garrison's departure, when Italian troops breached its walls near the Porta Pia. Rome became the capital in 1871; Pope Pius IX refused to recognise the new state and declared himself a “prisoner” in the Vatican, a question settled only in 1929 by the Lateran Treaty. Trento and Trieste, still Austrian, were annexed to Italy only after the First World War.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica, article « Risorgimento »
- Lucy Riall, Risorgimento: The History of Italy from Napoleon to Nation State, Palgrave Macmillan, 2009
- Gilles Pécout, Naissance de l'Italie contemporaine, 1770-1922
- Camera dei deputati, « Roma capitale », 2021
Key Events
After the uprising in Milan, King Charles Albert of Piedmont-Sardinia, who has just granted the Albertine Statute, declares war on Austria. Defeated at Custoza and then at Novara in March 1849, he abdicates in favour of his son Victor Emmanuel II.
The French and Piedmontese armies defeat the Austrians at Solferino and San Martino, one of the bloodiest battles of the century; the carnage inspires Henry Dunant to found the Red Cross. Lombardy passes to Piedmont.
Giuseppe Garibaldi lands in Sicily with about a thousand volunteers, the “Redshirts”. Within months he conquers the island and then Naples; on 26 October, at Teano, he hands the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies over to Victor Emmanuel II.
On 17 March 1861, the Parliament meeting in Turin proclaimed Victor Emmanuel II King of Italy, a decisive step in the Risorgimento. Venetia joined the kingdom only in 1866, and Rome in 1870, becoming its capital in 1871.
Allied with Prussia in the war against Austria, the Kingdom of Italy obtains Venetia, ceded through France despite the Italian defeats at Custoza and Lissa. A plebiscite ratifies the annexation on 21 and 22 October.
After the departure of the French garrison, recalled by the Franco-Prussian War, Italian troops breach the walls of Rome near the Porta Pia. Pope Pius IX withdraws into the Vatican; a plebiscite approves the annexation on 2 October.
Under the law of 3 February 1871, the government moves from Florence to Rome, which becomes the capital of unified Italy; Parliament sits there from November.