Britannica Sources used in this answer

How did Giuseppe Mazzini react to the unification of Italy as a monarchy in 1861?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Italian revolutionary Giuseppe Mazzini — Giuseppe Mazzini Giuseppe Mazzini, detail of an oil painting by Luigi Zuccoli, 1865; in the Museo del Risorgimento, Milan.

As an uncompromising republican, Giuseppe Mazzini was deeply disappointed by the unification of Italy as a monarchy under the House of Savoy in 1861.12

Although he had long advocated for a unified Italian state, he envisioned it as a republic rather than a kingdom. Following the proclamation of the new united Kingdom of Italy, Mazzini refused to participate in the parliamentary government that had been established. Expressing his profound disillusionment with the outcome of the Risorgimento, he famously remarked, "I thought I was awakening the soul of Italy, and I see only the corpse before me".21

Throughout the 1860s, he remained committed to his republican ideals, continuing to engage in revolutionary activities and planning for the eventual inclusion of Venice and Rome into a truly democratic Italian state.32