The unified state largely extended the centralized school system designed in Piedmont under the Casati Law (1859) across the kingdom. Over time, this helped create more uniform state oversight of education, though implementation varied widely by region.
In late January and early February 1861, elections were held for the Chamber of Deputies in territories being brought under one national government. This vote created a legislature that could formally declare a new kingdom and begin standardizing laws and administration across previously separate states.
The newly elected national Parliament first met in Turin, the political center of the former Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont. Meeting in a single capital helped leaders present unification as a functioning national state, not just a set of annexations.
A law passed on 17 March 1861 proclaimed the Kingdom of Italy and gave Victor Emmanuel II the title “King of Italy.” This legal step turned the unification movement into a single recognized state, while keeping the existing constitutional framework in place.
After the proclamation, Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, served as the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy. His government focused on making national institutions work in practice, using Piedmontese administrative models as a foundation.
Cavour died on 6 June 1861, only months after the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed. His death forced the new state to manage an early change of leadership while major national problems—especially church-state relations and regional unrest—remained unresolved.
Bettino Ricasoli succeeded Cavour and led the next government. His cabinet worked to keep the constitutional monarchy operating and to extend national administration across regions with different legal traditions and political expectations.
In August 1863, Parliament passed Law no. 1409 (the Pica Law) to suppress “brigandage” (armed resistance and banditry) in parts of southern Italy. It introduced exceptional measures, including expanded military jurisdiction in designated provinces, showing how security concerns shaped early state-building.
On 15 September 1864, Italy and France signed the September Convention, linked to the sensitive issue of Rome and the Papacy. A key consequence was the political decision to move the capital away from Turin, aiming to ease international tensions and internal disputes.
Following the September Convention, the seat of government was moved from Turin to Florence. The change highlighted that national institutions were still being negotiated and physically reorganized, and it intensified political conflict in Turin, where many saw the move as a loss of status.
In 1865, the Kingdom of Italy promulgated a national civil code, a major step toward replacing a patchwork of local legal systems. A shared civil code made everyday legal matters—such as property, contracts, and family law—more consistent across the kingdom.
General elections in October 1865 were only the second national elections of the Kingdom of Italy. They helped confirm that parliamentary politics—still dominated by elite voters and local influence—would be the main arena for negotiating how the new state governed.
Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy and Early Institutional Consolidation (1861–1865)