Plausibility Check/What If: Confederal/Federal Italy in the XIX century.

When Piedmont-Sardinia unified Italy, the House of Savoy forced the laws of the former Kingdom down the throat of each and every region of the peninsula under their rule. This policy was the cause of some serious problems that plagued Italy during the first years of its existence as an unitary state, especially in the ex-Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, that got even poorer than it already was. Could Italy have been unified as a federation or confederation of states, each retaining its own customs and laws, and how well would this alternate Italy do in comparison to ours?
 
Could Italy have been unified as a federation or confederation of states, each retaining its own customs and laws, and how well would this alternate Italy do in comparison to ours?

Perhaps if Piedmont-Sardinia achieved unifying victories through nationalist revolutions in the other Italian states and Austrian Lombardy-Venetia? Austria would have to be hobbled a bit more in the Revolutions of 1848, or the Italians a bit luckier.

But in a situation where local Italian revolutionaries are largely responsible for victory, they'll be in a better position to demand a less centralized power structure, and protection for local prerogatives. Ideologically, the newly-unified Italy would also have its founding structure, politics, and mythos rooted in that era's liberalism triumphant.

The House of Savoy might not be terribly pleased with the foundational ideology of an 1848 Italy, but that's probably a small price to pay to become monarchs of the whole peninsula without concessions to France or other powers.
 
My TL is going to have a Federal Italy, unified by the Murat dynasty in Naples.:) Most of Italy will be united by the end of '48. The TL is on hold ATM, because '48 is so massive and interconnected, you can't just change one thing, and figuring out what is likely, and possible is tough.
 
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