After the demise of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1861 and incorporation into the new Kingdom of Italy, Florio had to face the new political-economic context, especially as his relations with the past regime could have made the new Italian government less benevolent. Not that he was openly compromised, but his participation in the Sicilian revolution of 1848 had been lukewarm and conditioned by the concern to safeguard his assets and economic interests. At the time he had refused, for lack of guarantees, a loan to the revolution for a supply of arms. However, the new rulers were more interested to establish peaceful relations with the productive bourgeoisie of the new regions.