The paper was founded by a group of liberals and monarchists a few days after the annexation of Lombardy to Piedmont-Sardinia in the wider context of Italian unification. Its founders were wealthy members of the city's leading families, politically supportive of the Piedmontese First Minister, Count Cavour's unification strategy. Three of the most prominent of them, Giovanni Visconti Venosta, Gaetano Negri and Stefano Jacini were members of the "Constitutional Association". The starting paid up share capital of 300,000 lire was considered lavish at the time. Beneath its title early editions of La Perseveranza carried the motto "Usque ad finem" (""On to completion" / "On to the end"").