 Italy's acquisition of this wealthy and populous territory represented a major step in the process of Italian unification.Victor Emmanuel II of Savoy had been proclamated King of Italy on 17 March 1861 but did not control Venetia or the much reduced Papal States.The situation of the (a later Italian term for part of the country under foreign domination, literally meaning "un-redeemed") was an unceasing source of tension in the domestic politics of the newly created Kingdom, as well as being a cornerstone of its foreign policy.