You're going to want to look up the Risorgimento, the moment when a seemingly unstoppable current of nationalist feeling emerged among the socially conscious political leaders which eventually drive the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia to embark on a sequence of conflicts to expel foreign influence and occupation from the Italian peninsula and unify the nation under a single government.

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I've written about the Italian unification process a few times, although I think there's a whole lot more that can be said, especially regarding a holistic overview of the history of Italian nationalism, as well a more focused look on the lead-up to the Kingdom of Piedmont embarking on a mission to unify the country.

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This lengthy answer of mine from a few years back offers an overview of the sentiment and history behind the Risorgimento process, while this other more recent answer tries to do the same while being a bit more succinct.

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This answer from six months ago on the piedmontese Prime Minister Camillo Benso, who was one of the central leadership figures in the unification process, might also interest you.

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This other answer specifically on Tuscany might also interest you, as it looks at events from the perspective of a more peripheral Italian state.