This article analyzes the process of formation of the 1st Italian penal code after the political unification of the country, called Zanardelli code of 1889. An analysis that contextualizes the encoding not only of the chronology of political events, but also, for example, in the Italian criminal law science of the XIX century. A science of criminal law - known under the name of "classical school" - characterized by having raised some flags as the abolition of the death penalty, one of the appointed aspects, inclusive, such factor that hindered the legislative unification process in the criminal area. Finally, as an epilogue addresses the criticism of the "positive school" who opposed the liberal tendencies of the newly enacted code. A criminal liberalism, however, is seen in its ambiguity: within a liberal code, for example, hard devices to combat political dissent, and rules extra codicem that mitigated some safeguards enshrined in the code.
History of criminal law; Italian Penal Code of 1889; Giuseppe Zanardelli; The Science of the Italian Criminal Law in the nineteenth century