Savoy historical fun facts

For the next posts, embark with us on a glamorous and fascinating journey of pearls, architecture, fashion and mountain life around Turin and Piedmont. And to better share our bountiful local culture, we are taking a look at some fun facts of our local history and its influence on the rest of Southern Europe. 

chocolate and arcades are 2 symbols of Turin since the 1600s 

Did you know that...

•  Italy has a royal family: the Savoy dynasty that dates back to 998! Read more in Italian here. 

• Turin has been the capital of the Kingdom of Savoy since 1563 (back then its official title was Duchy of Savoy), before it was in the Alps, in Chambéry, a beautiful French Alpine town since 1860 because: 
• Italy got unified as a nation and kingdom in 1861, Turin being the very first Italian capital!
• Italy is made up of 20 very diverse regions, each one with their own dialects, customs, mentality, local dishes AND wines, farming breeds and Slow Food presidia (producer associations)

curent map of Italy, courtesy of wikipedia

• one or more Italian regions are the legacy of the past states, city states, duchies and kingdoms 
• each region has one regional capital, larger regions are divided into 2+ provinces or city councils and different municipalities. 
• Italy doesn't have counties and doesn't have an Independence Day.

 

Piedmont map with the territories it had by 1714, courtesy of wikipedia

• On the English speaking media, we often hear about the Kingdom of Sardinia but never about the 'Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia' like people educated in Italy learn in school, at least up here in Piedmont! The reason is rather futile: many people love short titles and names and stick with the informal denomination. 

maps of Italy and Sardinia in 1300 courtesy of Sergio Atzeni

• In fact, the beautiful island of Sardinia, a unique asset in the Mediterranean has a fascinating history! Up to 1297, Sardinia was divided into many small administrative areas and some were under the governments of the Maritime Republics of Pisa and Genoa. Back then, together with Venice, thanks to their big ports and the trades, they were the Italian Singapores! 

Then in 1297, Pope Boniface 8th created the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica - while Savoy was still officially a Duchy in the bigger European picture, even though its Duke acted as a king... The pope donated both Sardinia and Corsica to the Catholic Kingdom of Aragon, in current Spain and this explains: 1) why to our days some Sardinian dialects are very close to Catalan spoken in Barcelona and 2) why in 1769, in Corsica, French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was actually born to an Italian family. In 1768, the Republic of Genoa gave administratively Corsica up  to France and it was annexed in 1789; French became the official language of Corsica only in 1859.

Mozart visited Turin 1771 for 2 weeks, his hotel is still operating

Officially the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica was Spanish from 1479 till 1720 when it passed under the Savoy government and the Savoy Duke of Piedmont acquired the title of King of Sardinia AND Duke of Savoy following the degrees of importance of these titles to the historical dates of the foundations of the states. 

• Back in 1706, France had tried many times to conquer Turin but thanks to Pietro Micca they sort of "gave up", while the Maritime Republic of Genoa ended its independence in 1797 and it finally got annexed to the Savoy Kingdom in 1815. 

Look up on map 1, in 1815, besides Piedmont, the Kingdom of Savoy included: Sardinia, the Duchy of Genoa and the current Liguria region (Italian riviera next to S. France) with a portion of Emilia Romagna (the wider Bologna region), a portion of the current S. Lombardy (current Pavia area), Nice (current S.France), Savoy (current France bordering the Piedmont Alps) and Valle D'Aosta, the Italian Alpine region nestled in the top Northwest corner of Italy, bordering France, Switzerland and Piedmont.

Turin is surrounded by the Alps visible from 95% of the city

It may sound like a lot of Alpine areas, but this is where the chocolate and cashmere trades flourished and were then propelled by the coastal ports that boosted the Piedmontese economy and its influence over the other European countries.

1815 brings us to Prince Ferdinand of Savoy, 1st Duke of Genoa, born in 1822 and his daughter Margherita or Margarita, 1st Queen of United Italy, born in Palazzo Chiablese or Chablais Palace (next post!) a wing of the Royal Palace of Turin. 

Yes, Queen Margarita is the one who loved pearls, fashion, art and literature, went hiking in Valle D'Aosta where she had a must-see castle in Gressoney St. Jean (where the Gucci movie with Lady Gaga was filmed) and pizza, towns and streets were dedicated to!

We'll also post about her 👑

on the remains of the bishop palace, the Royal Palace of Turin was built in 1584

E-mail Lucia 📧 turinepi@gmail.com 

for your private walking tours with experiences, private classes and relocation services, in Turin and online!

Turin is a living pop-up book, come enjoy our natural Bridgerton style 🎇

Turin Stocking Stuffers

Happy Saint Lucy's Day to all those who celebrate December 13th, including our very own Lucia of Turinepi!!

Besides Scandinavia and St Lucia, St Lucia's is a festive day in many parts of Italy where she brings the Christmas presents, leaving Santa just some small packages to fill up his stockings.

Originally from Syracuse, Sicily, during the Roman times, Lucia was persecuted and martyrized because she wouldn't renounce her faith. Her relics traveled to many places and because her name means light, her story finally merged with the Winter Solstice and this is how she make it up to Northern Europe where she's represented wearing a crown of candles and bringing light in the 'longest dark day of the year'.

If you can read Italian, enjoy our short story here.

Fiat 500 where the T stands for Torino

Whiskey risotto

We officially made it to the fall 🌰 and the Holiday season ✨ and as it is customary, we are sharing one of our risottos!

This one will make many people happy as it checks many boxes: gluten free, vegetarian and possibly vegan too, alcohol free so the kids and people on meds can enjoy it too 😋It can also be easily tweaked to fit your personal taste and the ingredients you have access to wherever you are based! So, feel free to modify accordingly if none of our suggestions work out for you.

in November the artichoke season starts in Piedmont: our risotto 

Italian gifts

Fall is really the new year in Italy as people get back in town, schools resume and with them all the Italian rites: dinners out, Sunday lunches at nonni's or parents', parties and presents.

Halloween's vibes in Turin

Italian (in)tangible identities

 Italians are renowned for being very friendly and welcoming people but are they really? 

at Pepino's enjoying a pinguino!

Italian geography

Geography inspires travels, daydreams by giving many clues about the people who live in far and away lands. And Italian geography is an integral part of Italian culture and language because as all students of Italian 101 learn within the first week of class: the Italian spelling is done with the Italian cities. And all native Italians know all the Italian cities, where they are located and their wider regions.

People educated in Italian schools learn their own geography in elementary and middle school and like most Europeans, they know the major facts about the 20 regions that make up the boot. However, many non-Europeans who plan to visit or move to Italy judge Italian geography useless and most even refuse to learn the few Italian cities whose first letter make up their full name.

Unfortunately, when you can't spell your name with Italian cities, you can't book or make any reservations and Italians have no clue about non-Italian sounds, even more so when you have a non-Italian spelling...

One extra reason to savor Italian geography is that it comes with its diverse history, costumes, dialects, specific words, expressions and use of the grammar typical of only specific areas.

In fact, despite the stereotypes: Italy isn't a monoculture and the Italian friendliness you perceive is in most cases just a façade. This is even truer in business situations like long term renting, buying properties and doing business.

Therefore be aware of any Italian language class that doesn't teach the alphabet with the names of the Italian cities because you'll be missing a useful part and won't be able to spell your name properly. Plus, you'll be missing all the Italian culture bits that come with it...

Take private Italian classes with us: turinepi@gmail.com

Turin time

There are always interesting things to know about Turin before making it over here, even only to soften your landing, culturally speaking. Whether Turin is your 1st Italian destination or your 20th, most things will be newer to you than you had expected. Naturally, this applies to native Italians too because as you may already know: Italy is a tiny and very diverse boot made up of 20 very distinct regions.

During our cross cultural workshops and relocation sessions, we always explain how the concept of one whole monocultural Italy has never existed. Thus the lack of a national sense in favor of the more common 'campanilismo' or affectionate attachment to our own little village church belltower. 

Words and their origins always give us nice insights on the culture of the language they belong to and campanile is the church belltower where the bell rings every 15 minutes to mark the time and remind us where we are in our day. Yet, paraphrasing Kant, time and space are both universal and subjective and especially time is a very fluid dimension here in the boot.

Unlike what you see represented by most Non-Italian tv and cinema productions, and even if you have already visited other more touristy Italian places, once you are in Turin, you'll soon find out for yourself how what easily works out in Rome and Sicily doesn't necessarily work up in Northern Italy, especially here in the Northwest.