I. The Savoy DNA
The birth of one of Europe's longest-lasting dynasties is shrouded in legends surrounding the origins of Umberto Biancamano, yet it is grounded in the historical backdrop of the Middle Ages which, having overcome the dread of the year 1000, opens up to the developments of modernity. In this context, Umberto Biancamano finds himself managing a mountainous territory from which he can hope to draw neither the wealth of the rich plains of France nor those of the lowlands carved out by the waters of the Po. He understands, however, that being positioned on both sides of the Alpine chain, he can exercise control over the passes and exclusive access to the routes on either side — whether to channel commercial caravans or to allow or prevent the passage of troops in service of this or that lord.
To this insight is then added a fortuitous element: the beautiful Adelaide, heiress of the last of the Arduinici, who, in the context of the Burgundy succession wars and with the blessing of the German king Conrad II the Salic, is given in marriage to Biancamano's son, Oddone, bringing him as dowry vast territories stretching from northern Piedmont to Liguria. Dynastic marriages, therefore, as fundamental ingredients in the development of Savoy DNA, alongside military passion and a progressive refinement of governing techniques. An initial period of foundation-building lasting approximately a century, during which the declared objective was that of a «State of passage, master of the communication routes». Between the mid-1100s and mid-1300s, however, the Savoy dynasty undergoes a long transitional phase, struggling to survive the constant institutional turmoil typical of the late Middle Ages, erecting fortresses and castles (Moncalieri, Rivalta, Pinerolo, Bricherasio, Rivoli, Pianezza, etc.) and choosing Chambéry as their preferred place of residence.
II. Between Deep Crises and Sudden Rebirths, the Duchy of Savoy Arises
From its very origins, the Savoy dynasty tends to follow a sinusoidal evolutionary path, with sudden and triumphant successes alternating with apparently definitive collapses, yet also with great personalities intertwined with minor and modest figures. This is what happens, for example, in the era of the three Amedei. The first, Amedeo VI, known as the Green Count after the colour of the clothes he wore with a pre-modern flair, marks the comeback. He settles the western borders with France, extends his sphere of influence in Italy against the Visconti, conquers Cuneo opening the road to the sea towards Nice, crushes the cadet branch of the Acaja of Fossano, and establishes his capital at Chambéry. His son Amedeo VII, though dying at only 28 years old, perhaps as the result of a conspiracy, nonetheless manages to continue his father's design by conquering Nice and its maritime opening. Amedeo VIII, finally, frail and in poor health and therefore considered wholly unfit for the role, reveals himself instead as one of the greatest figures in the Savoy pantheon. Having obtained ducal recognition, he incorporates all the Piedmontese domains of the Acaja, transforms the castle of Fossano into something between a castrum and a palatium, and brings glory to Fossano and Savigliano by raising them as strong anti-French bulwarks.
At the moment of maximum ducal expansion, however, the sinusoidal pattern of the Savoys returns: Amedeo VIII leaves governmental duties to his son and retreats to Ripaille to follow a supposed religious vocation. Thus begins a complicated period that brings the Savoys to their lowest levels ever, undoubtedly exacerbated by the great changes underway on the international scene, with the first constitutive pushes of the great modern nations (Spain, England, and France). The duchy is then stripped of territories and possessions on either side of the Alps, and while Rome, Florence, Venice, Mantua, and Milan begin to shine with the great season of the Renaissance, Turin is conspicuously absent. Everything seems shrouded in an atmosphere of precariousness, with inadequate castles bare of prestigious works of art and with makeshift tapestries in place of frescoes. The only real acquisition is represented by the Shroud, which is displayed annually in Chambéry, but when powerful and illustrious figures need to be accommodated, recourse is made to the homes of others, such as the Tapparelli castle of Lagnasco.
III. With Arms, Intelligence, Perseverance and Fortune: the Birth of the Kingdom
The now-customary and oscillating evolution of the Savoy dynasty takes, in the mid-1500s, a new and prestigious social, economic, and military ascent thanks to Emanuele Filiberto, born in 1528, the only survivor of Carlo II's six children. Initiated from a very young age to a political and military career, in 1543 he enters the service of his uncle Carlo V, who is devoted to him, to his never-affected manner, to his availability, to the admiration and disinterested devotion he reads in his behaviour. The young Emanuele first becomes commander of the imperial guard and Flemish cavalry, then supreme commander of the imperial army at only 25 years old, and under Philip II the new king of Spain, army commander and governor of the Low Countries. Following the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, he marries Margherita di Valois, daughter of the French king Francis I, and repositions the Duchy of Savoy on the European chessboard, effectively turning it into a buffer state that separates on opposing Alpine slopes the French pressing from Provence and the Spaniards established in Milan.
Aware that in the long run he would be unable to contest territories beyond the Alps against a power like France, Emanuele retains Bresse and Savoy with the narrow sea outlet to Nice, transfers the capital to Turin, and makes the Italian side of the Alps the centre of his expansive interest. To Turin then come artists and scientists, administration (centralized) and army (with local soldiers and therefore more motivated) are reorganised, and the city flourishes, proud of its new role. In August 1580, Carlo Emanuele I ascends the throne, who, though driven by great ambition and deep respect for his father, fails to equal Emanuele Filiberto in political and diplomatic terms. With his impulsiveness, he strains relations between France and Spain, but nonetheless manages to promote Savigliano to provincial capital and to build the Sanctuary of Vicoforte with the largest ogival dome in the world. His son Vittorio Amedeo I succeeds him, inexperienced and unprepared for the great international political events, subservient to France both politically after the Treaty of Cherasco in 1631 and sentimentally by marrying Cristina, daughter of Henry IV and Maria de' Medici. Cristina herself, widowed at a young age and having become «Madama reale» through the temporary regency exercised on behalf of her still-too-young children, draws even closer to France, thus giving rise to an internal civil war between «madamisti» and «principisti», resolved with the prevalence of the former.
The seventeenth century closes, then, with the brief reign of Carlo Emanuele II, the definitive conquest of the Marquisate of Saluzzo including the architectural gem of the ancient castle of La Manta, and the retention of Maurienne and Nice. While the fortunes of other Italian dynasties decline, the Savoys nonetheless manage to consolidate the image of an ever-unvanquished warrior duchy that European powers must watch closely in its expansive ambitions and with which, through infinite friendly and dynastic relations, accounts are never definitively settled.
IV. Finally Kings!
The eighteenth century sees the Savoy dynasty finally transform into a kingdom through the work of Vittorio Amedeo II, considered the most inscrutable, solitary, and singular of its dukes. Impenetrable in his feelings and thoughts, Vittorio Amedeo first lives in the shadow of France, then allies with his cousin Eugene, an influential general of the Viennese court and protagonist of the League of Augsburg. With the Peace of Ryswick in 1697, Vittorio Amedeo obtains the evacuation of France from Italian territories and, shortly after, attempts to repeat the double-dealing scheme during the War of the Spanish Succession, first dialoguing with the Franco-Spanish and then allying with the Habsburgs. In response to the affront, in 1706 France besieges Turin, but once again Prince Eugene, the Habsburg commander, frees the city from the French and forces them into a disastrous retreat. With the Peace of Utrecht in 1713, finally, the Savoys enter the ranks of European royal families and gain exclusive control of all of Piedmont and the Kingdom of Sicily, which they would later exchange for Sardinia.
If with Carlo Emanuele III the kingdom settles in geographical terms (also thanks to the legendary Battle of Assietta with which the Savoys drive back the French), enriches itself artistically with important urban redevelopments such as that of Bra with the architect Vittone, and consolidates itself as an absolute protagonist of the entire European political chessboard, with his son Vittorio Amedeo III it collapses in on itself and implodes, stifling every attempt at Enlightenment reform. Defeated by the French first and humiliated by Napoleon then, Vittorio Amedeo soon dies and leaves the throne to his weak and epileptic son Carlo Emanuele IV, who takes refuge in Sardinia and loses Turin and all of Piedmont. The Savoys return to Piazza Castello only in 1814 with Vittorio Emanuele I, who, faced with the revolutionary movements of 1821 featuring, among others, the Savigliano-born Santorre di Santarosa, abdicates in favour of Carlo Felice, who in turn banishes Prince Carlo Alberto, suppresses every revolutionary movement, and, if nothing else, rebuilds the city of Alba entrusting it to the urban planner Giorgio Busca.
Upon the death of Carlo Felice, without direct heirs, the very marginalized nephew Carlo Alberto ascends the throne, the intrepid protagonist of the Italian Risorgimento. The first king descending from a lateral branch, the Savoia-Carignano, Carlo Alberto lives through difficult years, always dreaming of returning to his favourite residence of Racconigi, for which he entrusts the architect Pelagio Palagi with the rearrangement of the interiors (including the fascinating Etruscan Cabinet) and at the edges of which he builds several service buildings in neo-Gothic style such as the Serre and the Margaria. Known and celebrated for granting the eponymous Statute of 1848, Carlo Alberto suffers defeat at Novara in 1849 against the Austrian troops led by General Josef Radetzky and immediately abdicates in favour of his son, Vittorio Emanuele II.
V. The Kings of Italy
Between 1849 and 1861, the lands of Lower Piedmont continue to intertwine their destiny with the dynasty, if not for anything else then for the long residence at Grinzane of the young Cavour and the ministerial contribution of the Savigliano-born Pietro Santarosa, cousin of Santorre and among the greatest friends and collaborators of Cavour himself. With the unification of Italy and the consequent transfer of the capital first to Florence and then to Rome, the deeds of the Savoy dynasty expand their radius of action and escape the Piedmontese borders. The only fixed point that remains in place to tell the story of the public and private evolution of the Savoys is the Castle of Racconigi, where kings and queens continue to pass through and where princes and young royals accumulate indelible childhood memories.
The first king of Italy, and the most beloved of all Italians, Vittorio Emanuele II, meets here his first wife Maria Adelaide of Habsburg-Lorraine, who will give him among others the crown prince Umberto I. After a period of less frequent visits and when decline is already feared, Vittorio Emanuele III through a decree of 1900 makes the Castle of Racconigi the official seat of the «royal summer residences» and proceeds to modernise it by bringing in electricity, plumbing, and even a rare wonder of the time: the elevator. Mindful of the happy hours spent here as a child, he also dedicates adequate space to what he wishes to call the princes' apartments. Still at Racconigi, Umberto II, the last king of Italy, is born, and the same rooms welcome Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in 1909.
The Castle of Racconigi, finally, in 1925 serves as the stage for the wedding of the unfortunate Princess Mafalda, who died at Buchenwald at the hands of the Nazis, and for that of Maria José with Prince Umberto, the last royal owner of the residence, in 1930. A beloved place, then, that endures, is modernised, and becomes ever more welcoming. A place in which the dynasty recognises its ancient origins and contemporary preferences. From its rooms and corridors, queens, princes, and young royals often departed for the thermal baths of Valdieri and other places and residences of the Savoy province. This province, always considering the sovereigns of Italy its first citizens and fellow countrymen, later voted in the fateful referendum of 1946 to maintain the institution to which it had given so much, having acquired from it a set of values, behaviours, and customs unparalleled in any other part of Italy.
