As is well known, in 1860 the Kingdom of Sardinia militarily occupied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The material assets of the Constantinian Order – as well as all other material assets of the Bourbon family of the Two Sicilies – were confiscated by the new State. On the other hand, upon request from the Ministry of the Interior dated September 27, 1861, the Council of State expressed the opinion that the nationalization of the Order’s assets did not extinguish the Order itself.

This decision was validated by two notable sentences (issued on July 11, 1871) of the Supreme Court of Cassation, which declared “neither lapsed nor abolished the Constantinian Order” and that with Garibaldi’s dictatorial decree of February 12, 1860 – which brought the material assets of the Order into state ownership – and with which it was only disposed that the assets of the Constantinian Order previously administered under the dependence of the Ministry of the Presidency of Ministers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies be declared national assets.

The Sacred Military Constantinian Order, therefore, has continued to exist – and exists – in full legitimacy in the Italian State, because it, as masterfully explained by the authority of Ettore Gallo, “is a chivalric institution not state-based but dynastic-familial, totally foreign to the Italian legal system in origin and historical evolution, which however, precisely by virtue of this, has constantly obtained recognition from the canonical order and which must be qualified as ‘non-national'”.

Furthermore, law no. 178 of 1951 authorizes Italian citizens awarded Constantinian honors to wear them, as also authoritatively recognized by the Italian Council of State in the notable decision no. 1869/81.
Therefore, Italian citizens legitimately awarded Constantinian honors may request authorization for their use in the territory of the Republic with the relevant Presidential Decree or from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

By Decree of the President of the Republic, in 1973 the Italian National Association of Knights of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George was established as a Moral Entity.