Italian unification , also known as
Risorgimento (, meaning
the Resurgence or renaissance or rebirth or revival), was the political and social movement that consolidated different states of the
Italian peninsula into the single state of the
Kingdom of Italy in the 19th century. Despite a lack of consensus on the exact dates for the beginning and end of this period, many scholars agree that the process began in 1815 with the
Congress of Vienna and the end of
Napoleonic rule, and was completed in 1871 when
Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Some of the
terre irredente did not, however, join the Kingdom of Italy until after
World War I with the
Treaty of Saint-Germain. Some nationalists see the 3 November 1918
Armistice of Villa Giusti as the completion of unification.