Luigi Carlo Farini Bust

Luigi Carlo Farini helped turn the political upheaval of 1859 into annexation. Born in Russi in 1812, he trained as a physician before journalism and liberal activism drew him into public life. Exile and service in constitutional Rome preceded his move to Piedmont.

Farini opposed the Roman Republic of 1849 and became a supporter of Cavour's moderate strategy. His history of the Papal States expressed that political perspective as well as recording events. It should be read as the work of a participant in a contested period.

In 1859 he assumed extraordinary authority in central Italy and worked to unite the provinces that became Emilia with the Savoy kingdom. Administration, the management of provisional governments, and the organization of annexation were central to the process.

He served as Italy's prime minister from 1862 to 1863, but serious illness brought the term to an end. Farini died in 1866. His career emphasizes the institutional work behind unification, while also showing how sharply moderate liberals could disagree with republican allies against the old order.