Savoy is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Valley in the east.
Charles Emmanuel I, known as the Great, was the Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 30 August 1580 until his death almost 50 years later in 1630. He was nicknamed Testa d'feu for his rashness and military aggression.
Victor Amadeus II was the head of the House of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 12 June 1675 until his abdication in 1730. He was the first of his house to acquire a royal crown, ruling first as King of Sicily (1713–1720) and then as King of Sardinia (1720–1730). Among his other titles were Duke of Savoy, Duke of Montferrat, Prince of Piedmont, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Maurienne and Nice.
The House of Savoy is an Italian royal house that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1713 to 1720, when they were handed the island of Sardinia, over which they would exercise direct rule from then onward.
The Duchy of Savoy was a territorial entity of the Savoyard state that existed from 1416 until 1847 and was a possession of the House of Savoy.
Emmanuel Philibert, known as Testa di ferro, was Duke of Savoy and ruler of the Savoyard states from 17 August 1553 until his death in 1580. He is remembered for the recovery of the Savoyard state following the Battle of St. Quentin (1557), and for moving its capital to Turin.
The Ligurian Republic was a French client republic formed by Napoleon on 14 June 1797. It consisted of the old Republic of Genoa, which covered most of the Ligurian region of Northwest Italy, and the small Imperial fiefs owned by the House of Savoy inside its territory. Its first Constitution was promulgated on 22 December 1797, establishing a directorial republic. The directory was deposed on 7 December 1799 and the executive was temporarily replaced by a commission. In 1802, a doge was nominated for a 5-year term, according to the second Constitution imposed by Napoleon, and a Senate was established.
Yolande of Valois, also called Yolande of France, was Duchess of Savoy by marriage to Duke Amadeus IX of Savoy, and regent of Savoy during the minority of her son Philibert I of Savoy from 1472 until 1478.
Italian irredentism in Savoy was the political movement among Savoyards promoting annexation to the Savoy dynasty's Kingdom of Italy. It was active from 1860 to World War II.
The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom ofSardinia-Piedmont or Piedmont-Sardinia as a composite state during the Savoyard period, was a country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century.
Anne Christine of Sulzbach, Princess of Piedmont, also called Christine of the Palatinate, was a princess of the Bavarian Circle of the Holy Roman Empire and first wife of Charles Emmanuel of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, heir to the throne of the kingdom of Sardinia. She died during childbirth at the age of 19.
Charles II or Charles John Amadeus, was the Duke of Savoy from 1490 to 1496 but his mother Blanche of Montferrat (1472–1519) was the actual ruler as a regent. In 1485 his father Charles I had received the hereditary rights to the Kingdoms of Cyprus, Jerusalem, and Armenia which were inherited by young Charles.
The Kingdom of Sicily was ruled by the House of Savoy from 1713 until 1720, although they lost control of it in 1718 and did not relinquish their title to it until 1723. The only king of Sicily from the House of Savoy was Victor Amadeus II. Throughout this period Sicily remained a distinct realm in personal union with the other Savoyard states, but ultimately it secured for the House of Savoy a royal title and a future of expansion in Italy rather than in France. During this period, the Savoyard monarch used his new title to affirm his sovereign independence.
The Duchy of Genoa was a country consisting of the territories of the former Republic of Genoa. It was formed when the former territories of the republic were given to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1815 as a result of the Congress of Vienna, and dissolved after the Perfect Fusion of 1848.
The monarchy of Italy was the system of government in which a hereditary constitutional monarch was the sovereign of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946.
The France–Italy border is 515 km long. It runs from the Alps in the north, a region in which it passes over Mont Blanc, down to the Mediterranean coast in the south. Three national parks are located along the border: Vanoise National Park and Mercantour National Park on the French side and Gran Paradiso National Park on the Italian side.
The flag of Piedmont is one of the official symbols of the region of Piedmont in Italy. The current flag was adopted on 24 November 1995.
The Kingdom of Sardinia was a feudal state in Southern Europe created in the early 14th century and a possession of the Crown of Aragon first and then of the Spanish Empire until 1708, then of the Habsburgs until 1717, and then of the Spanish Empire again until 1720.
The Kingdom of Sardinia is a term used to denote the Savoyard state from 1720 until 1861, which united the island of Sardinia with the mainland possessions of the House of Savoy. Before 1847, only the island of Sardinia proper was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the other mainland possessions were held by the Savoys in their own right, hence forming a composite monarchy and a personal union which was formally referred to as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia". This situation was changed by the Perfect Fusion act of 1847, which created a unitary kingdom. Due to the fact that Piedmont was the seat of power and prominent part of the entity, the state is also referred to as Sardinia-Piedmont or Piedmont-Sardinia and sometimes erroneously as the Kingdom of Piedmont.
