The 1839 introduction of photography to the Italian peninsula coincided with the nationalist movement known as the Risorgimento, which culminated in Italy’s unification in 1861. Thus photography developed alongside the country itself, and a new nation and new technology were historically entwined. My dissertation project argues that from the moment of its introduction, photography contributed to this process of nation building. Framing this history between 1839 and 1855, the period of the Risorgimento preceding Unification, I focus on the work of three key figures: the print publisher Ferdinando Artaria (1781–1843); the editor, engraver, and photographer Luigi Sacchi (1805–1861); and the painter and photographer Giacomo Caneva (1813–1865). While foreign photographers immediately flocked to Rome in the footsteps of the prior century’s Grand Tourists, these local practitioners also mastered the early processes of daguerreotypes and calotypes, establishing a set of visual typologies (such as views, peasant images, and narrative tableaux) resonant with contemporary historical events, which functioned symbolically to construct Italian national identity before Unification. As a modern technology, photography represented a new means of representation that compelled photographers to envision a culturally and politically unified Italy during this period of transformation.