House of Savoy

The House of Savoy was a European dynasty that ruled Savoy, Sardinia, and, from 1861 to 1946, the Kingdom of Italy. Its rulers led the political unification of Italy.

County of Savoy: A medieval polity in the western Alps ruled by the House of Savoy. This Alpine territory was the dynasty’s original power base.
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy: The first king of unified Italy, reigning from 1861 until his death in 1878. He carried the Savoyard crown from Sardinia into the new Italian kingdom.
Statuto Albertino: The constitution granted by Charles Albert in 1848 and later used by the Kingdom of Italy. It supplied the constitutional framework for rule under the Savoy crown.
Kingdom of Italy: The unified Italian state ruled by the House of Savoy from 1861 to 1946. This kingdom was the dynasty’s principal achievement and its final national throne.
House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: A branch of the Bourbon dynasty that ruled the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies until 1861. Its southern kingdom was the principal Italian rival absorbed into the Savoy-led state.
Amadeus VI, Count of Savoy: A fourteenth-century Savoyard ruler known as the Green Count for his tournament attire. His military and diplomatic expansion strengthened Savoy’s standing among European powers.
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour: A statesman who served as prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont and helped achieve Italian unification. His diplomacy and political leadership made Savoyard expansion a vehicle for unification.
Piedmontese Army: The armed forces of the Kingdom of Sardinia before Italian unification. Its campaigns gave the dynasty military leverage in northern Italy.
Italian unification: The nineteenth-century process that consolidated most Italian states into one kingdom. Savoyard rulers and their allies led the formation of a unified state.
Papal States: A central Italian territory governed by the papacy until its annexation by the Kingdom of Italy. The papacy’s temporal rule stood against the Savoyard drive to incorporate Rome.

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