House of Savoy

The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia, French: Maison de Savoie, Arpitan: Mêson de Savouè) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern France. Through gradual expansions, the family grew in power, first ruling the County of Savoy, a small Alpine county northwest of Italy, and later gaining absolute rule of the Kingdom of Sicily. During the years from 1713 to 1720, they were handed the Kingdom of Sardinia and would exercise direct rule from then onward as Piedmont–Sardinia, which was the legal predecessor state of the Kingdom of Italy and the Italian Empire, which in turn are the predecessors of the present-day Italian Republic.

From the ruling of a région on the French–Italian border, to the abolition of monarchy in Italy, the dynasty's realm grew to include nearly all of the Italian peninsula. By 1871, the House of Savoy led the Italian unification, through its cadet branch Carignano and would go on to rule the Kingdom of Italy until 1946. They also briefly ruled the Kingdom of Spain during the 19th century. The Italian Savoyard kings were: Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. Umberto II reigned for only a few weeks, as the last king of Italy, before being deposed following the 1946 Italian institutional referendum, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed.