Abstract

Considering Bettino Ricasoli's (1809-1880) political action after the Risorgimento, particularly as Prime Minister (1861-62 and 1866-67), sheds light on a number of crucial features of the Italian State and Nation-building process. While serving as Prime Minister, Ricasoli had to deal with problems such as governmental stability and the interaction between the Executive and the Crown; the relationship between Church and State and, more broadly, the role of religion in society; the relationship with France; the creation of a unified administrative system; the completion of the new State's political and territorial unity. Analysing how Ricasoli addressed those problems can help place his figure within the wider contexts of Liberal Italy and of the Destra Storica, the political movement that laid the foundations of the new State after Cavour's death.