Day of Italian Unification 3/17/1861 Day of Italian Unity
March 17 is the national day when Italy celebrates the birth of the Italian state, with the declaration of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.
Here are 10 steps, corresponding to the serial numbers, to help you remember some milestones in the unification process.
Congratulations Italy! Auguri Italia
𝟏. The date of Italy’s unification as one state on March 17, 1861
(although it was still missing some areas that would be added later. Italy was fully unified, with all its 20 current regions, only in 1918, after the end of World War I).
𝟐. The name of the kingdom that took upon itself to unite Italy includes the names of two regions that still exist in Italy today: the kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia – while it actually also included Aosta Valley (6 independent entities existed in Italy just before the unification: the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, the Papal States, the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, the Duchy of Modena, Lucca, Parma and Massa Carrara, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and the Duchy of Tuscany).
3. Three cities that served as the capitals of the Kingdom of Italy for 9 years: Turin (1861-1865), Florence (1865-1870), and Rome (1870). This fact wonderfully illustrates the expansion of the unification from north to south.
4. Four significant figures led the unification:
King Victor Emmanuel II
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour.
General Giuseppe Garibaldi
Philosopher Giuseppe Mazzini
(Today, you can find their statues in central locations in every city, as well as the names of streets and squares dedicated to them).
6. It took Garibaldi six months to liberate Southern Italy, from May 11, 1860, the date he landed in Marsala, Sicily, until October 26, 1860, the day he shook hands with King Vittorio Emanuele, near the town of Teano, north of Naples, and recognized him as King of Italy, after defeating the forces of the Bourbon Kingdom in Southern Italy.
7. January 7 is Tricolor Day (Festa del Tricolore), the date on which National Flag Day is officially celebrated (Giornata Nazionale della Bandiera). The official celebration takes place in Reggio Emilia, the city where the Italian tricolor was first adopted by a sovereign Italian state, the Cispadane Republic, on January 7, 1797.
8. This was the eighth parliament of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, which became the first parliament of the new Kingdom of Italy, and confirmed the ascension of Vittorio Emanuele II as its first king on March 17, 1861. Despite being the first king of the new state, he insisted on retaining the name Vittorio Emanuele II, to present himself as part of the long-standing House of Savoy dynasty.
9. Nine years will pass from the beginning of the unification until October 1870 when Rome became the capital of the new kingdom, after the army of the newly established Kingdom of Italy besieged Rome, defeated the Pope’s troops, and entered the city on September 20.
(Many streets in Italy commemorate this date: XX SETTEBRE).
