As modern political parties were not present in Italy in the 19th century, the neo-Guelphs were only circles of intellectuals, aristocrats, journalists and businessmen with Catholic and unitarian tendencies.
[7] Many neo-Guelphists thought that Giovanni Mastai-Ferretti (elected pope Pius IX in 1846) would boost their cause, but he rejected their movement.
In Piedmont-Sardinia, the movement gained enough influences to install two neo-Guelphs in government: Cesare Balbo, from March to July 1848, and Gioberti himself, from December 1848 to February 1849.
After the Franco-Austrian War of 1859, which granted to Piedmont-Sardinia the control over Northern Italy (except for Veneto), neo-Guelphism was considered obsolete and unobtainable.
This eased the fears from Roman Catholic countries such as France who believed that a unified Italy could "corrupt" the Papacy.