February 3, 1871

Capital of Italy

Law No. 33 declares Rome the capital of the Kingdom of Italy

The listed date has no support behind it. Rome was made capital by a statute passed months later, and Florence went on governing Italy until the following summer.

The listed date is not the date

The listing puts Rome's becoming capital on 6 October 1870. Italian troops had captured the city on 20 September, and a royal decree of 9 October incorporated Rome and the Roman provinces into the kingdom — but no act made it the capital that autumn.

Victor Emmanuel II sanctioned and promulgated Law No. 33, enacted by the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, on 3 February 1871, for transferring the capital from Florence to Rome. The 6 October date may derive from records connected with certifying plebiscite proceedings.

One sentence, and a budget

Article 1 declared Rome the capital of the Kingdom. Article 2 required the seat of government to be established there no later than June 1871.

The law also authorised funding and special expropriation procedures for housing the government in Rome, with a transfer appropriation of 17,000,000 lire.

Declaring and moving are different operations

The statute was published on 4 February and entered into force on 19 February 1871. The definitive physical transfer of the capital is dated 1 July.

Florence remained the functioning seat of government until then, and the ministries did not relocate on any single day.

The first parliamentary session held in Rome opened on 27 November 1871.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 6 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1871-02-03.

What the sources leave uncertain

The listed date, 6 October 1870, is not supported as the date Rome became capital.
Several legitimate dates describe different stages: 3 February 1871 for enactment and promulgation, 19 February for the law’s entry into force, and 1 July for the definitive physical transfer. This sheet uses 3 February because that is the date of the law expressly declaring Rome the capital.
The 6 October date may arise from records connected with certifying or registering plebiscite proceedings, but the annexation decree itself was dated 9 October 1870.