Crema, Lombardy
By the 1859 Treaty of Zurich which ended the Austro-Sardinian War, Austria ceded Lombardy, including Crema, to France, who then immediately ceded it to Sardinia. This formed part of the "Risorgimento", which saw Sardinia become the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. In 1946, the Kingdom became the modern Italian Republic.
Piacenza
Austrian troops occupied Piacenza until, in 1860, a plebiscite marked the entrance of the city into the Kingdom of Sardinia. 37,089 voters out of 37,585 voted for the annexation. Piacenza was therefore declared "Primogenita dell'Unità di Italia" ("First-born of the Unification of Italy") by the monarch. The Piacentini enrolled en masse in the Giuseppe Garibaldi's army in the Expedition of the Thousand.