History - Italy - page 1777

A Nation is Born
The French Revolution at the end of the 18th century and the rise of Napoleon awakened
hopes in Italy of independent nationhood. Since the glory days of the Renaissance, Italy's
divided mini-states had gradually lost power and status on the European stage. By the late
18th century, the peninsula was little more than a tired, backward playground for the big
powers and a Grand Tour hot spot for the romantically inclined.
Napoleon marched into Italy on several occasions, finishing off the Venetian republic in
1797 (ending 1000 years of Venetian independence) and creating the so-called Kingdom of
Italy in 1805. That kingdom was in no way independent but the Napoleonic earthquake
spurred many Italians to believe that a single Italian state could be created after the emper-
or's demise.
It was not to be so easy. The reactionary Congress of Vienna restored all the foreign
rulers to their places in Italy.
Count Camillo Benso di Cavour (1810-61) of Turin, the prime minister of the Savoy
monarchy, became the diplomatic brains behind the Italian unity movement. Through the
pro-unity newspaper, Il Risorgimento (founded in 1847) and the publication of a parlia-
mentary Statuto (Statute), Cavour and his colleagues laid the groundwork for unity.
Cavour conspired with the French and won British support for the creation of an inde-
pendent Italian state. His 1858 treaty with France's Napoleon III foresaw French aid in the
event of a war with Austria and the creation of a northern Italian kingdom, in exchange for
parts of Savoy and Nice.
The bloody Franco-Austrian War (also known as the Second Italian War of Independen-
ce; 1859-61), unleashed in northern Italy, led to the occupation of Lombardy and the re-
treat of the Austrians to their eastern possessions in the Veneto. In the meantime, a wild
card in the form of professional revolutionary Giuseppe Garibaldi had created the real
chance of full Italian unity. Garibaldi took Sicily and southern Italy in a military blitz in the
name of Savoy king Vittorio Emanuele II in 1860. Spotting the chance, Cavour and the
king moved to take parts of central Italy (including Umbria and Le Marche) and so were
able to proclaim the creation of a single Italian state in 1861.
In the following nine years, Tuscany, the Veneto and Rome were all incorporated into the
fledgling kingdom. Unity was complete and parliament was established in Rome in 1871.
The turbulent new state saw violent swings between socialists and the right. Giovanni
Giolitti, one of Italy's longest-serving prime ministers (heading five governments between