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This paper treats the debate on Rome as capital city (1861–1871) within the perspective of a territorial study of the making of the Italian nation. The choice of the location of the capital city is interpreted on the basis of the thesis of D. Mack Smith, both as a Cavourian spatial choice of democratic Risorgimento void of political content and a victory factor of the monarchic Risorgimento. The parliamentary debate, as well as the public debate, reveals the representations of the Italian territory at the time of the unification. The vision of a polycentric State and the Southern Italy issue led to the choice of Rome, regarded as an historical and neutral capital city, and as a bridge between northern and southern Italy. These logics of location explain the difficulties faced by the "Eternal City" after 1871.