Early history The name derives from the historical region of Savoy in the
Alps between what is now France and Italy. Over time, the House of Savoy expanded its territory and influence through judicious marriages and international diplomacy. The house descended from
Humbert I, Count of Sabaudia, also known as Umberto I "Biancamano" (1003–1047 or 1048). The ancestry of Humbert is uncertain, as contemporary documents make no mention of his father. His family was traditionally believed to have come from Saxony; more recent investigations into the 21st century pointed to the
County of Vienne, where both Humbert and his relatives held extensive possessions, as a more plausible origin. , where many of the dukes are buried Although
Sabaudia was originally a poor county, later
counts were diplomatically skilled, and gained control over strategic mountain passes in the Alps. Two of Humbert's sons were commendatory abbots at the
Abbey of St. Maurice, Agaunum, on the river
Rhône east of
Lake Geneva, and
Saint Maurice is still the patron of the House of Savoy. Humbert's son,
Otto of Savoy, succeeded to the title in 1051 after the death of his elder brother
Amadeus I of Savoy. Otto married the Marchioness Adelaide of
Turin, bringing the
Marquessate of Susa, with the towns of Turin and Pinerolo, into the House of Savoy's possession. They once had claims on the modern
canton of Vaud, where they occupied the
Château of Chillon in Switzerland; their access to it was cut by
Geneva during the
Protestant Reformation, after which it was conquered by the
Canton of Bern. Meanwhile,
Piedmont was later joined with Sabaudia, and the name evolved into
Savoy ().
Expansion, retreat, and prosperity By the time
Amadeus VIII came to power in the late 14th century, the House of Savoy had gone through a series of gradual territorial expansions and he was elevated by
Sigismund, the
Holy Roman Emperor, to the Duke of Savoy in 1416. In 1494,
Charles VIII of France passed through Savoy on his way to Italy and Naples, which initiated the
Italian War of 1494–1495. During the outbreak of the
Italian war of 1521–1526, the Holy Roman Emperor
Charles V stationed imperial troops in Savoy. In 1536, Francis I of France invaded Savoy and Piedmont, taking Turin by April of that year.
Charles III Duke of Savoy, fled to Vercelli. In this capacity, he led the Spanish invasion of northern France and won a victory in the
battle of St. Quentin in 1557. He took advantage of various squabbles in Europe to slowly regain territory from both the French and the Spanish, including the city of Turin. He moved the capital of the duchy from
Chambéry to Turin. The 17th century brought about economic development to the Turin area and the House of Savoy took part in and benefitted from that.
Charles Emmanuel II developed the port of
Nice and built a road through the Alps towards France, and through skillful political manoeuvres the territorial expansion continued. In the early 18th century during the
War of the Spanish Succession, future King
Victor Amadeus II switched sides to assist the Habsburgs, and via the
Treaty of Utrecht they rewarded him with large pieces of land in northeastern Italy and a Crown in Sicily.
Savoy rule over Sicily lasted only seven years (1713–1720).
Kingdom of Italy The crown of Sicily, the prestige of being
kings at last, and the wealth of
Palermo helped strengthen the House of Savoy further. In 1720, they were forced to exchange Sicily for the
Kingdom of Sardinia as a result of the
War of the Quadruple Alliance. On the mainland, the dynasty continued its expansionist policies as well. Through advantageous alliances during the
War of the Polish Succession and
War of the Austrian Succession, King
Charles Emmanuel III gained new lands at the expense of the
Austrian-controlled
Duchy of Milan. In 1792, Piedmont–Sardinia joined the
First Coalition against the
French First Republic. It was beaten in 1796 by
Napoleon and forced to conclude the disadvantageous
Treaty of Paris, giving the French army free passage through Piedmont. In 1798,
Barthélemy Catherine Joubert occupied Turin and forced
Charles Emmanuel IV to abdicate and leave for the island of
Sardinia. In 1814, the kingdom was restored and enlarged with the addition of the former
Republic of Genoa by the
Congress of Vienna. In the meantime,
Italian nationalist figures like
Giuseppe Mazzini were influencing popular opinion. Mazzini believed that
Italian unification could only be achieved through a
popular uprising. After the failure of the
Revolutions of 1848 in the Italian states, the nationalists began to look to the
Kingdom of Sardinia and its prime minister
Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour as leaders of the unification movement. In 1848, King
Charles Albert conceded a constitution known as the
Statuto Albertino to Piedmont–Sardinia, which remained the basis of the kingdom's legal system even after Italian unification was achieved and the Kingdom of Sardinia became the
Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Kingdom of Italy was the first Italian state to include the Italian peninsula since the fall of the
Roman Empire. When
Victor Emmanuel was crowned King of Italy in 1861, his realm did not include the
Venetia region (subject to Habsburg governance),
Lazio (with Rome),
Umbria,
Marche, and
Romagna (with the
Papal town of
Bologna). Yet the House of Savoy continued to rule Italy for several decades through the Italian independence wars as Italian unification proceeded and even as the
First World War raged on in the early 20th century.
Massacres In April 1655, based on perhaps false reports of resistance by the
Waldensians, a
Protestant religious minority, to a plan to resettle them in remote mountain valleys,
Charles Emmanuel II ordered their general massacre, which became known as the
Piedmontese Easter. The massacre was so brutal it aroused indignation throughout Europe.
Oliver Cromwell, then ruler in England, began petitioning on behalf of the Waldensians, writing letters, raising contributions, calling a general fast in England, and threatening to send military forces to the rescue. The massacre prompted
John Milton's famous sonnet, "
On the Late Massacre in Piedmont". In 1898, the
Bava Beccaris massacre in Milan involved the use of cannons against unarmed protesters (including women and the elderly) during riots over the rising price of bread. King
Umberto I of the House of Savoy congratulated General
Fiorenzo Bava Beccaris for the massacre and decorated him with the medal of Great Official of Savoy Military Order, greatly outraging a large part of the public opinion. As a result, Umberto I was assassinated in July 1900 in
Monza by
Gaetano Bresci, the brother of one of the women massacred in the crowd, who had traveled back to Italy from the United States for the assassination. The king had previously been the target of failed assassination attempts by anarchists
Giovanni Passannante and
Pietro Acciarito.
Fascism and end of monarchy When the
First World War ended, the
Treaty of Versailles fell short of what had been promised in the
London Pact to Italy. As the economic conditions in Italy worsened after the war, popular resentment and along with it the seeds of
Italian fascism began to grow and resulted in the
March on Rome by
Benito Mussolini. General
Pietro Badoglio advised King
Victor Emmanuel III that he could easily sweep Mussolini and his rag-tag
Blackshirt army to one side but Victor Emmanuel decided to tolerate Mussolini and appointed him as
prime minister of Italy on 28 October 1922. The king remained silent as Mussolini engaged in one abuse of power after another from 1924 onward, and did not intervene in 1925–1926 when Mussolini dropped all pretense of democracy. By the end of 1928, the king's right to remove Mussolini from office was, at least theoretically, the only check on his power. Later, the king's failure, in the face of mounting evidence, to move against the Mussolini regime's abuses of power led to much criticism and had dire future consequences for Italy and for the
monarchy itself. After their invasion in 1935, Italy conquered Ethiopia in the
Second Italo-Ethiopian War and Victor Emmanuel was crowned as Emperor of Ethiopia. He also added the Albanian crown 1939 but lost Ethiopia as part of the
East African campaign in 1941; however, as Mussolini and the
Axis powers failed in the
Second World War in 1943, several members of the Italian court began putting out feelers to the
Allies of World War II, who in turn let it be known that Mussolini had to go. After Mussolini received a vote of no confidence from the
Fascist Grand Council on 24 July, Victor Emmanuel dismissed him from office, relinquished the Ethiopian and Albanian crowns, and appointed Pietro Badoglio as prime minister. On 8 September, the new government announced it had signed an armistice with the Allies five days earlier; however, Victor Emmanuel made another blunder when he and his government fled south to
Brindisi, leaving his army without orders. As the Allies and the
Italian Resistance gradually chased the
Nazis and fascists off the peninsula, it became apparent that Victor Emmanuel was too tainted by his earlier support of Mussolini to have any postwar role. Accordingly, Victor Emmanuel transferred most of his powers to his son, Crown Prince Umberto, in April 1944. Rome was liberated two months later, and Victor Emmanuel transferred his remaining powers to Umberto and named him
Lieutenant General of the Realm. Within a year, public opinion pushed for a
referendum to decide between retaining the monarchy or becoming a
republic. On 9 May 1946, in a last-ditch attempt to save the monarchy, Victor Emmanuel formally abdicated in favour of his son, who became
Umberto II. It did not work as the
1946 Italian institutional referendum was won by republicans with 54% of the vote. Victor Emmanuel went into exile in
Egypt, dying there a year later. On 12 June 1946, the Kingdom of Italy formally came to an end as Umberto II transferred his powers to the prime minister
Alcide de Gasperi and called for the Italian people to support the new republic. He then went into exile in
Portugal, never to return; he died in 1983. The
Constitution of the Italian Republic includes the
entrenched clause that the republican form of government cannot be changed by
constitutional amendment, thus forbidding any attempt to restore the monarchy short of adoption of an entirely new
constitution. The Constitution of Italy also forbade male descendants of the House of Savoy from entering Italy. This provision was removed in 2002; as part of the deal to be allowed back into Italy,
Vittorio Emanuele, the last claimant to the House of Savoy, renounced all claims to the throne. He died in 2024.
Controversies, damage claims against Italy, and internal disputes The
Residences of the Royal House of Savoy in Turin and the neighbourhood are protected as a
World Heritage Site. Although the titles and distinctions of the Italian royal family are not legally recognised by the Italian Republic, the remaining members of the House of Savoy, like dynasties of other abolished monarchies, still use some of the various titles they acquired over the millennium of their reign prior to the republic's establishment, including Duke of Savoy; Prince of Naples, previously conferred by
Joseph Bonaparte to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren;
Prince of Piedmont; and
Duke of Aosta. Previously, the leadership of the House of Savoy was contested by two cousins:
Vittorio Emanuele, Prince of Naples, who used to claim the title of King of Italy, and
Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, who claimed the title of Duke of Savoy. Supporters of Vittorio Emanuele and his descendents are known as Legitimists while supporters of Amedeo and his descendents are known as Aostaists. Their rivalry was not always peaceful. On 21 May 2004, following a dinner held by King
Juan Carlos I of Spain on the eve of the wedding of his son
Felipe, Prince of Asturias, Vittorio Emanuele punched Amedeo twice in the face. In 1969, Vittorio Emanuele made his unilateral declaration of kingship, arguing that by agreeing to submit to a referendum on his place as head of state, his father (Umberto II) had thereby abdicated. Vittorio Emanuele took this action after his father allegedly called for Amedeo to visit him in Portugal to name him his heir. Under his self-assumed powers as King of Italy, Vittorio Emanuele conferred the title of Duchess of Sant'Anna di Valdieri on his then-fiancée
Marina Doria. In 1983, after the death of his father, with the support of the
Italian Freemasonry (like many personalities of the Italian ruling class who promoted the repeal of the transitional provisions and the return to Italy, he was registered with
Licio Gelli's Masonic lodge
Propaganda Due with membership number 1621), as well as scattered pieces of the Italian Monarchist Party, Vittorio Emanuele proclaimed himself King of Italy as Vittorio Emanuele IV and became the historical and political reference of the House of Savoy. In 2002, statements were published in which he accepted the end of the monarchy, and both Vittorio Emanuele and his son
Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy swore loyalty to the Italian Republic and its president. Vittorio Emanuele reconsidered his words the day after and spoke of a "grave mistake", but he did not apologize. In 2002, with a statement issued from Geneva on the same day the
Italian racial laws of 1938 had been given
royal assent by the king, for the first time in the history of the House of Savoy, Vittorio Emanuele officially distanced himself from the antisemitic laws, and since then had tried to repair the damage by saying that the antisemitic laws had left "an indelible stain" and were the "darkest chapter" in his family's history. On 27 January 2005, in a letter published by the
Corriere della Sera, Vittorio Emanuele issued an apology to Italy's Jewish population, asking forgiveness from the
Italian Jewish community, and declaring that it was an error for the
Italian royal family to have signed the racial laws of 1938. On 20 September 2018, during a celebration for the 100th anniversary of the Great War, Emanuele Filiberto stated: "The racial laws are a disgrace for Italy, for what happened." In the letter, Emanuele Filiberto stated: "I condemn the 1938 racial laws, all of whose weight I still feel on my shoulders to this day, and with me the whole royal house ... they are a disgrace for the entire Royal House of Savoy. ... We firmly dissociate ourselves, an unacceptable document, a wound still open for the entire country." Emanuele Filiberto told
TG5 that he was writing with "an open heart" a difficult letter whose contents "may surprise you and that perhaps you did not expect", and the time had come "once and for all" to "come to terms with the history and the past" of the Savoy family. Some of the activities, actions, and accusations of members of the House of Savoy, especially those of Vittorio Emanuele and his legal troubles, evoked media coverage disappointing to
Italian royalists, including among its family members. Vittorio Emanuele was a business intermediary on behalf of
Agusta and thanks to his friendship with
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi concluded sales of helicopters between Italy, Iran, and some Arab countries. In the 1970s, he was investigated in
Venice and
Trento for international arms trafficking to some Middle Eastern countries under embargo. This case was later transferred to
Rome but was later closed. finding him guilty of unauthorised possession of a firearm during the incident; and imprisoned in
Potenza on charges of
political corruption and recruitment of prostitutes for clients of the
Casinò di Campione of
Campione d'Italia, from which it emerged the
Vallettopoli scandal. After seven days in jail, Vittorio Emanuele was released and placed under house arrest instead; both Vittorio Emanuele and his family denied any wrongdoings. He was released from house arrest on 20 July but was required to remain within the territory of the Italian Republic; he was eventually acquitted of all charges, including that of
criminal association aimed at corruption, gambling, forgery ("against public administration, public faith, and property"), exploitation of prostitution, and aiding and abetting, in the Savoiagate trial, and in February 2015 obtained €40,000 in damages for his time in jail. When incarcerated in June 2006, Vittorio Emanuele was recorded admitting, with regard to the killing of Hamer, that "I was in the wrong, but I put one over on those French judges", leading to a call from Hamer's sister Birgit for Vittorio Emanuele to be retried in Italy for the killing; in response to this and his father's arrest and charges in 2006, Emanuele Filiberto distanced himself from Vittorio Emanuele, saying that he does not share or support everything his father did, while Amedeo of Savoy stated that Vittorio Emanuele's claims to the Headship of House Savoy were "in presence of facts that can injure the Royal House". After a long legal fight, Birgit Hamer obtained the full video. The story was broken in the press by
Il Fatto Quotidiano with an article by aristocratic journalist
Beatrice Borromeo, who also wrote the preface for a book on the murder
Delitto senza castigo by Birgit Hamer. Vittorio Emanuele sued the newspaper for defamation, claiming the video had been manipulated. In March 2015, a court judgement ruled in favour of
Il Fatto Quotidiano. In the summer of 2023,
The Prince, a docuseries directed by Borromeo and focused on the death of Hamer, was released on
Netflix. The docuseries concluded with Vittorio Emanuele declaring that he had no regrets and that he would do everything he had done in his life again "except Cavallu", referencing the events at Cavallo. This was confirmed during an interview on the
Rai 3 popular affairs programme
Ballarò, where Emanuele Filiberto also stated that the seized property including Roman landmarks, such as the
Quirinale palace and
Villa Ada, should be returned to the Savoy family. The Italian prime minister's office released a statement stating that the Savoys are not owed any damages and suggesting that Italy may demand damages from the Savoys for their collusion with Mussolini and its wartime conduct. The Italian Constitution contains a clause stripping the Savoys of their wealth on exile. Emanuele Filiberto acknowledged that his fiancée, whose pregnancy was revealed at the time of the couple's engagement, belonged to a more leftist milieu than his own, a fact that initially displeased his father. On 17 December 2017, the body of Victor Emmanuel III returned to Italy to be buried at the
Sanctuary of Vicoforte in Piedmont. Judicially separated since 1976, civilly divorced in 1982, and their marriage religiously annulled in 1987, Amedeo of Aosta's first wife,
Princess Claude of Orléans, revealed that she was aware that her husband fathered a child by another woman during their marriage. Aosta acknowledged paternity of another child, born out-of-wedlock in 2006 during his second marriage but agreed to contribute financially to the child's care only after being directed to do so by court order. The
patrilineal lineage of the House of Savoy was reduced to four males between 1996 and 2009. In 2008,
Aimone of Savoy-Aosta married
Princess Olga Isabelle of Greece, his second cousin, and they became the parents of sons Umberto and Amedeo, who were born respectively in 2009 and 2011. In 2019, Vittorio Emanuele issued a formal decree that modified the medieval law restricting succession to male heirs to place his granddaughter,
Vittoria Cristina Chiara Adelaide Marie, in the line of succession. Prince Aimone declared the change illegitimate, meaning the title would remain in male succession and transfer to the Savoy-Aosta branch led by Aimone. As of 2022, the House of Savoy was in the process of trying to reclaim family jewels that have been owned by the Italian government since the abolition of the monarchy. Vittorio Emanuele died in February 2024, and the House of Savoy announced: "Surrounded by his family, he died peacefully in Geneva." == Orders of knighthood ==