The essay considers the Italian national unification process through the point of view of Giuseppe Vacca, exponent of the Risorgimento ruling class, involved in the State Building project and in his role as mediator between central governmental power and local powers. Indeed, Vacca’s institutional project moves along three main lines, namely the theme of good administration, legislative unification, and the relationship of the judiciary with the other constitutional powers. Vacca's 'constitutional discourse' is also interesting for its internal coherence and constitutes a privileged observation point for interpreting ideologies and programmes of a decisive phase of Italian institutional history.