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The 150th anniversary of Italian Unification was commemorated on a set of six stamps and a souvenir sheet with a single stamp. The six €0,60 stamps show an historical photograph from each capital of the states which became part of the new Kingdom of Italy from 1859 to 1861. These include the Kingdom of Lombardy (Milan), the Duchy of Modena (Modena), the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (Florence), Kingdom of Sardinia (Turin), the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Naples), and the Duchy of Parma (Parma). In addition to a photograph from each capital city, small reproductions of the first postage stamp issued by each state are included in the design. The states are identified on the respective stamps. The red, green, white flag of the Italian Republic cleverly streams through each stamp's design. 200,000 stamps were issued in sheets of 10. 
The souvenir sheet is a joint issue with Italy and shows Rome's Piazza del Popolo, including an Egyptian obelisk, originally from Heliopolis erected by Ramses II, and the twin 17th century churches, Santa Maria in Montestanto and Santa Maria dei Miracoli. The obelisk was brought to Rome originally in 10 BC and erected in the Circus Maximus, later transferred to the Piazzadel Popolo in 1589 during the pontificate of Sixtus V (1585-1590). The €1,50 stamp identifies the 150th anniversary of unification. 120,000 souvenir sheets were printed. 
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The 150th anniversary of unification was celebrated by various public events. The movement for Italian unification accelerated after French administration that followed the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars of the 1790s, the later occupation of a portion of the peninsula, as well as the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. The historic and independent city-states of the peninsula considered various options that might lead to unification but efforts toward confederation were often frustrated by historical rivalries, disagreements over the form of government (kingdom or republic), political philosophy, and influence from Austria and France. The role of the papacy, the Papal States, and Rome also served as a point of contention. The position of Pope Pius IX (1846-1878) toward unification was profoundly influenced by the Revolutions of 1848 and proclamation of a Roman Republic, which forced Pius IX to flee the city for safety until after June 1849. Between 1859 and 1861 the movement known as Il Risorgimento, with leaders such as Giuseppe Garibaldi, Giuseppe Manias, Count Emilio Cavour, and others, a consolidated Kingdom of Italy was formed by unification around the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia. Its House of Savoy, represented by King Victor Emanuel II, became Head of State of the new Kingdom of Italy on 17 March 1861. Turin, then Florence, served as the location of the new government and parliament. Venetia and Rome remained outside the new Kingdom. Venetia was ceded to Emperor Napoleon III of France who in turn ceded it to Kingdom of Italy after Austria's defeat in the Austro Prussian War (1866). Attempts by nationalists to seize Rome failed in 1867. Italian troops entered Rome on 20 September 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871). Rome then became the de facto capital of the new Kingdom. Pope Pius IX rejected negotiations with the new Kingdom. Pius IX declared himself a "Prisoner of the Vatican," a position that continued under his successors, with varying degrees of intensity, until the Lateran Pacts of 1929 which created the Vatican City State. Italian populations in territories (Italia Irredenta) surrounding the new kingdom remained a sometimes contentious but unresolved issue into and after World War I. The "unredeemed territories" included Trentino, Trieste, South Tyrol, parts of Istria and Dalmatia, Fiume, Italian speaking portions of Switzerland, and (under Mussolini) Corsica, Malta, Nice, Savoy, and Corfu.

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