Italian unification (known as "Risorgimento," which literally means "resurgence) was a slow process which took several centuries to complete. When Napoleon conquered Italy in the early 19th century, the French introduced revolutionary ideas to the Italians.
Guiseppe Mazzini--the ideological father of Italian unification--was among the first Italians to advocate a unified Italy. He failed in his quest, but the communist revolutions of 1848 sparked a growing nationalist sentiment in Italy. The conservative regimes suppressed these revolts, but the gears of unification could not be stopped from spinning.
Now that the ideological foundation of unification had been laid, Count Camillo di Cavour, the Prime Minister of Piedmont-Sardinia (the wealthiest Italian kingdom), began the physical process. He helped orchestrate the Franco-Austrian War of 1859, which forced the Italian states to unify militarily against the Austrians. Then, in 1861, a number of Italian states voted to join Piedmont-Sardinia.
Several other events brought Italy further toward unification, but the process was officially complete when Italy moved its capital to Rome in 1871.
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