Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour died soon after the proclamation of Italian national unity, leaving to his successors the solution of the knotty Venetian and Roman problems. The Austrians were still in Venetia and the pope was still in Rome. Cavour had firmly believed that without Rome as the capital, Italy's unification would be incomplete; for the historic position of the Eternal City, with its immortal memories, was such that Italians could not allow another power to possess it. "To go to Rome", said his successor, Ricasoli, "is not merely a right; it is an inexorable necessity." In regard to the future relations between church and state, Cavour's famous dictum was, "A free Church in a free State"; by which he meant that the former should be entirely free to exercise her spiritual powers and leave politics entirely to the latter.