Why go
The kingdom’s history extends beyond the moment of unification. It connects northern industrial change and the southern question with colonial ambitions and the First World War, leaving a more complicated legacy than celebratory national monuments alone suggest. It also helps distinguish monuments to national unity from those shaped by the war and its aftermath.
The full story
After Victor Emmanuel II, the monarchy passed to Umberto I and then Victor Emmanuel III. Rome became the capital in 1871, but the new state contained sharp social and economic differences. Industrial development was concentrated more strongly in the north; the persistent difficulties of the south became known as the southern question. Around the turn of the century, governments pursued colonial expansion in Eritrea, Somalia and Libya. The years associated with Giovanni Giolitti also brought economic and political modernization. Italy stayed neutral at the start of the First World War, then joined the Entente after a secret agreement promised territorial gains. Trench fighting was severe. The army’s defeat at Caporetto in 1917 was followed by a defensive stand on the Piave and victory at Vittorio Veneto in 1918. The postwar settlement brought new territories, including Trentino-Alto Adige and Venezia Giulia, but not everything promised. Nationalist talk of a “mutilated victory” grew from that gap. Together, these events explain why monuments of the kingdom may celebrate unity, sacrifice and expansion while leaving regional inequality in the background.