He promoted his vision in "La Constituente", a political journal that he launched and directed. The first edition, printed by Felice Le Monnier, was published in Florence on 23 December 1848. In several of his articles he expressed his strong opposition to the idea, dear to the heart of its promoter, Vincenzo Gioberti, of a "federative constitution" with the pope as the head of state in a unified Italy. He closely followed political developments in Piedmont to the north and in the newly established Roman Republic to the south. He urged that Grand Duke Leopold should send a delegation of deputies to the Roman Congress convened in 5 February 1849. He believed that the presence of deputies from Tuscany could transform the Roman congress into a national Italian congress, especially once-revolutionary governments from Sicily and Venice had also seen the direction of travel and determined to send their own deputies. Mordini's was a characteristically ambitious vision, which some might have thought fanciful, but with continuing pressure on the streets for "independence" and "republican democracy", the vision was powerful enough to alarm the Grand Duke. During January 1849 Mordini's vision turned up as a parliamentary bill, accepted by the Montanelli-Guerrazzi government, and sent to Leopold for his signature. Leopold, who on 30 January 1849 had unexpectedly relocated his court to Siena, refused to sign the bill into law. Instead, overnight on 7/8 February, he fled Siena and headed for Porto Santo Stefano on the coast. On 21 February 1849 he embarked for Gaeta where he arrived on 23 February 1849. Here, under the protection of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies he evidently felt himself sufficiently distanced from the turmoil on the streets of Florence.