On March 17, 1861 Victor Emmanuel II became the first King of a unified Italy. As the Risorgimento movement got at its peak, people were fighting for independence and try to free the country from foreign rule and unite several micro-states.
Before 1861, Italy was just a patchwork of city-states and regions ruled by the pope and a variety of monarchs. Established as a monarchy with a parliamentary government, the new state had its first capital in Turin. Four years later, in 1865, the capital was moved to Florence and finally, in 1871, to Rome.
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