Who they were
He was born in Turin in 1810, the second son of a Piedmontese noble family, which left him with no title to inherit and a career to find. He trained as an army engineer, resigned his commission, and spent a decade running the family estate at Leri as a scientific farmer, travelling to Britain and France to study their industry and their parliaments. In 1847 he helped found a newspaper called Il Risorgimento — the word that would end up naming the whole movement — entered the Piedmontese parliament the following year, and reached the premiership in 1852.
What they did
As prime minister he modernized Piedmont and used shrewd diplomacy, an alliance with France against Austria in 1859 and the management of Garibaldi’s conquests, to bring most of Italy under the Savoy monarchy. He became the first prime minister of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 but died months later.
Legacy
Remembered as the political mastermind of unification, complementing Garibaldi’s military role and Mazzini’s ideals, he is counted among the fathers of the fatherland.