Why did Giuseppe Mazzini refuse to take part in the parliamentary government of unified Italy?

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

Giuseppe Mazzini refused to participate in the parliamentary government of the newly unified Italy because he was an uncompromising republican.1

While Mazzini had long championed the cause of Italian unity, he envisioned the nation as a republic rather than the monarchy that was established under the House of Savoy in 1861. Disappointed that the Risorgimento resulted in a monarchical state rather than the republic he had fought for, he famously lamented, "I thought I was awakening the soul of Italy, and I see only the corpse before me". Consequently, he remained steadfast in his political principles and declined to serve within the parliamentary system of the new kingdom.12