In 1861, after the wars waged against the Austrians and once the Garibaldi expedition to Sicily was completed, the long period of political and military fights leading Italy to unification was over. On the 17th March of that year the national unity was proclaimed in Torino, which became the first capital city of Italy.
During the Risorgimento (The Resurgence), the city took in the exiles from all over the country. They had developed a common unitarian aspiration and here they designed the political strategy that would result into the unification of the country. Therefore, the new history of Italy, indipendent and united, initiated from Torino on the 17th March one and a half century ago. The city would be the capital for four years until 1865, when the centrality of the Government of the Kingdom moved to Florence. Rome became the final capital city, from 1871, when the unification of the country was fully completed.
