Lecture 2 – The Kings of Sardinia & Italy

With the end of the Wars of the Spanish Succession, Europe once again opened up to travel and Turin resumed its role as a ‘gateway’ to Italy. Grand tourists made it their first ‘stop over’ before moving on to Venice and elsewhere, enjoying the dignified elegance of the upgraded ‘royal’ capital of the newly minted Kingdom of Sardinia. In the following century the city became involved in the wider power struggles between France and Austria, while the revolutionary fervour of 1848 stimulated growing demands for ‘Italian’ independence from foreign dynasties. After failed attempts to galvanise popular uprisings, the Savoy dynasty were sought by the revolutionaries to lead Italy’s attempt to unify as a single nation. While King Charles Albert conceded a written constitution for the Savoy kingdom, his prime minister, Count Cavour, became the protagonist in the slow march to Italian unity. In 1861 Victor Emmanuel II became the first of the four Savoy kings to rule Italy, originally from Turin and from Rome in 1870. Their dominance ended with the dramatic and short-lived rule of Umberto II who abdicated in 1946. Thus ended the power of the House of Savoy, a dynasty which has left an indelible imprint on the social, political and cultural landscape that is Italy.