After the landing of the Allies in Sicily, the Armistice of Cassibile, its announcement on 8 September and the flight of the king from Rome, the Badoglio Government, established in Brindisi, maintained the constitutional structure of the Kingdom of Italy, trying to reconstruct the state administration, since almost all the officials and ministerial employees had remained trapped in the capital. On the evening of 10 September, King Victor Emmanuel III announced, in a recorded message broadcast by Radio Bari, the reasons that had prompted him to leave Rome: For the Allies, it was necessary that in liberated Italy there was a government capable of exercising a legitimate power to counter that of the
Italian Social Republic established in Salò. For this reason, already on 19 September the Apulian provinces of Bari, Brindisi, Lecce and Taranto and Sardinia were not placed under the control of the Allied Military Administration of the Occupied Territories (AMGOT) but were recognised as independent and entrusted to the government of Badoglio, albeit under the strict control of the Allied Control Commission. One of the first acts of the government established in Brindisi was the signing of the so-called long armistice, integrated by the short armistice signed in Cassibile on 3 September. While making the principle of unconditional surrender effective, the Allies committed themselves to softening the conditions in proportion to the help that Italy would provide in the fight against the Nazis. On 13 October the government declared war on Germany. From a political point of view, this declaration was very important, since it placed Italy within the Allied forces, albeit with the qualification of
co-belligerent. From this moment the Italian government slowly began to acquire greater autonomy. In this first phase, only Sardinia and the provinces of Puglia were under the control of the government, while the rest of the liberated territory remained under the control of the Allied Military Administration. At its formation in September 1943, the Kingdom of the South only controlled
Apulia,
Sardinia, and parts of
Basilicata and
Calabria.
Sicily, then under the AMGOT administration following its capture during
Operation Husky in the summer of 1943, was returned to the control of the Italian government in February 1944. More territories came under the control of the Kingdom of the South as the Allies advanced northwards along the
Italian peninsula. The king and government initially established their seat in Brindisi, although the city was never officially designated as the capital of Italy. The
de facto sovereignty of the kingdom was limited, as it was subject to the
Allied Control Commission for Italy. The so-called Salerno turning point allowed a compromise to be found between the anti-fascist parties, the monarchy and Marshal Badoglio that allowed the formation of a government of national unity with the participation of all the political forces present in the
National Liberation Committee, temporarily setting aside the political and institutional disagreements that arose after the fall of fascism. On 22 April 1944, the second Badoglio government took office, politically supported by a coalition of the recently reconstituted Italian parties.
Transfer of the government to Rome On 4 June 1944, Rome was liberated and the following day Victor Emmanuel III appointed his son Umberto as Lieutenant of the Kingdom, retiring to private life. Umberto took office at the Quirinale and, on the proposal of the CLN, entrusted the task of forming the new government to Ivanoe Bonomi, an elderly political leader who had been Prime Minister before the advent of fascism. The new government thus took office in July in the capital. ==The use of the term and the historical debate ==