This paper aims to analyze the judiciary’s evolution in post-unification Italy focusing on the annual reports of the prosecutor. It was, at first, a substantial evolution, even before a formal one, which led to the socio-political and institutional affirmation of the judiciary, in opposition to the centralistic power of the executive. This evolutionary process caused on several occasions an institutional conflict between the Government and the judiciary, greatly covered by the media, which inevitably involved the offices of the prosecutor, faltering between direct control of the Ministry and loyalty to the judicial “guild”. The article discusses emblematic examples of this conflict and the prosecutors’ role in determining and, at the same time, suffering its consequences.