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.
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| 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)
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Mozart visited Turin 1771 for 2 weeks, his hotel is still operating |
- 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.
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| 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 👑
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| on the remains of the bishop palace, the Royal Palace of Turin was built in 1584 |
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