As a grandee of Spain Solferino was welcome in Carlism and the party propaganda took advantage of his name as early as in 1872. Initial Solferino's engagement in Carlism, politics and public life was very much formatted along the Integrist pattern. In the aftermath of military defeat, suffered in 1876, the party was dominated by . The former shaped Carlism as focused almost exclusively on religious threads and intended to maintain public mobilization by means of Catholic initiatives. Key element of this strategy were massive semi-political pilgrimages. The first one took place in October 1876, with almost 6,000 pilgrims reaching Rome; Solferino was listed as one of the most prestigious participants. Similarly, he took part in the next pilgrimage to Rome of 1878. In 1881 his position changed from prestigious participant to one of the organizers, as he emerged as treasurer of Junta Organizativa de Barcelona of the next pilgrimage, planned for 1882 and finally called off due to political reasons.