Risorgimento is the Italian word for Unification. It literally means ‘resurgence’, but it is the word that was historically used for this period of Italian unification.

By 1849, The Austrians were back in Venice and Lombardy, the Pope had returned to Rome, and much of Tuscany was under Austrian protection as well. Italy was divided up into several provinces run by kings from outside Italy. The Piedmontese King, Victor Emmanuel II, and his Chief Minister Camilo Cavour, were seeking a united Italy with Piedmont at the head. A deal had been made with Napoleon that would see Nice ceded to France, and Austria would cede Lombardy to France, which would then give it to Piedmont. Cavour also negotiated to get Tuscany. This would grant Piedmont much of northern and central Italy, leaving the papal territories alone. Lots of people were not happy about this, but the angriest of all was Garibaldi, the Italian patriot who had been born in Nice, and now found himself a Frenchman.  

Garibaldi’s story is a bit wild. He had gotten into some trouble in Italy years earlier, and fled to Brazil, where he met his wife, Anita, and got involved in guerilla warfare to liberate a small state there. He then left for Uruguay, where he formed a brigade of Italian expats. He won a famous victory in 1846 and his fame spread to Europe. The moment the revolutions of ’48, broke out, he headed back to Italy where he took part in some uprisings on the Italian peninsula. But while on a ship in route to Venice, the Austrians intercepted the ship and forced it to the coast, where his wife Anita had died. Distraught, he left Italy for New York for a period of exile. 

A friend of Garibaldi’s, Francesco Crispi, a fervant republican and Sicilian lawyer, came back to Italy in 1859, and found that the Bourbons were hated everywhere. He convinced Garibaldi to come with a force and liberate Sicily. In 1860, the Sicilians again revolted, but things went badly as usual. The revolt did spark other revolts throughout Sicily. Garibaldi was collecting guns, when he heard of the insurrection. Always ready for a good liberatory fight, he petitioned Victor Emmanuel, but was denied. Nevertheless, Garibaldi collected a band of volunteers: the Thousand, and they sailed for Sicily without the King’s blessing.  

Victor Emmanuel wished success for Garibaldi, but Cavour distrusted him. The King knew it would be dangerous to reveal his sympathies, but at the same time, could not openly disown Garibaldi, the most popular figure in Italy, by far. 

Garibaldi arrived in Marsala in May 1860, and found it completely undefended. He addressed the people and declared himself dictator. He marched inland and met the Bourbon army, where he won. The Bourbon resistance then melted away and he moved straightaway to Palermo. He was expected to come through Monreale, but came around a suburb instead, entering the city with no resistance.  

The Palermitani were unwilling to side with him at first, unsure of what would happen, but when they heard the bells ringing, they joined in and celebrated.  

His men were exhausted, but help and arms were on the way. In early June, the equipment arrived as well as more volunteers. The Sicilian response to Garibaldi’s call to arms was disappointing, however. 

Garibaldi led his troops across to Messina and Sicily was liberated from the Bourbons. But of course the island still had to be governed. Garibaldi had been careful to emphasize that Sicily would always be considered a part of united Italy. Here, Crispi helped the effort. He was Sicilian, a lawyer, and highly intelligent. He partitioned the land and set local Sicilian administrations over each.  

Cavour wanted Sicily annexed immediately to Piedmont. Garibaldi and Crispi opposed this on the grounds that Sicily was already a part of the Kingdom. Sicilians had assumed as much. 

Cavour did not want Garibaldi crossing to the mainland, since he knew Garibaldi was much more popular that Victor Emmanuel. If Garibaldi were to do all the heavy lifting of unifying Italy, any ‘reign’ of Victor Emmanuel would be seen as rather hollow. So Cavour moved to have the Piedmontese army reach Naples first.  

Back in Sicily, the fight for unification was turning into a class struggle. Liberty was never going to be enough for the starving. I mean it’s great to have liberty and all, but if you don’t have anything to eat, then it’s a secondary concern. And while ‘liberty’ was being proclaimed from the Spaniards, the Sicilian peasants knew that they had some homegrown overlords that were all too willing to oppress them when the Spaniards were gone. While things were all battle-y, why not consider a cause that was a little closer to home for the Sicilians, and turn the anger into a war of oppressed versus oppressor? But this would derail the larger effort, so Garibaldi had to force some order on the island.  

Garibaldi’s invasion of the mainland in August 1860, against Victor Emmanuel’s wishes, went on, and after crossing the straight of Messina, they landed and marched northward to Naples with little resistance. He was invited in to Naples and delivered a speech thanking the Neapolitans for all they had done in the name of Italy. They hadn’t really done anything, of course, but a little flattery wouldn’t hurt to get them on board with the whole unification project. 

Garibaldi’s next move would be to march on Rome, but that never happened. Had he tried it, Garibaldi’s forces would likely have been no match for the French forces at Rome. But apart from that, Cavour and King Vittorio Emanuele had sent the Piedmontese army marching around Rome to cut through the Papal states and unite Italy (other than Rome and Venice, which, admittedly, were two pretty important pieces, but we’ll let it go for the moment). 

Garibaldi, when confronted with the possibility of a fight between the two forces that were supposedly trying to unite Italy, chose unification over his own personal glory and voluntarily stepped down and handed his command over to Victor Emmanuel.  

A plebiscite for acceptance of unification was held through the Italian regions, and in Sicily, the vote was overwhelmingly for unification. However, when the Sicilians got wind that Garibaldi had been removed and they would then be ruled by Turin, they were none too pleased about it. Cavour, for his part, concluded “the island needed a good dose of northern discipline.” This, as one might imagine, didn’t go over particularly well in Sicily itself.  

In March 1861, Victor Emmanuel was proclaimed King of Italy. His chief minister is reported to have said: “L’Italia è fatta: restano fare gli italiani.” Which means “Italy is made. All that’s left is to make Italians.” True dat. Few of the 22 million people in the new Italy thought of themselves as ‘Italians’. North and South had virtually nothing in common. People thought of themselves as Sicilians, Lombards, Venetians, Tuscans, or Neapolitans, but not so much as Italians. 

As for the remaining outliers: Venice and Rome; in 1866 Bismark, wanting to unify the German states, made a treaty with Italy that if they helped him attack Austria, he would cede Venice. The battle was won and Venice became an Italian city.  

Rome was captured when the French pulled out their troops in 1870. With no one left to protect the Pope, the Italian army marched in and Rome was then a part of Italy. The Pope refused to acknowledge it, went on a giant pout, and lived in the Vatican another 8 years before he died.