His family was traditionally believed to have come from Saxony;[5] 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.

[12] When Emmanuel Philibert came to power in 1553, most of his family's territories were in French hands, so he offered to serve France's leading enemy the House of Habsburg in the hope of recovering his lands.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

[15] This provision was removed in 2002;[16] 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.

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.

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.

[19] 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.

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.

[29] The 2002 statement read: "The date of 10 November, which until now represented for us the memory of an indelible stain on the history of the family, now constitutes, by a singular twist of fate, a new, fundamental stage towards the long-awaited return to the Homeland.

"[33] When the Savoys returned to Italy in 2003, they were met with complaints that Vittorio Emanuele and his family had made no attempt at reconciliation with the Jewish community, which was not satisfied and continued to demand a "clear sign that they have rejected that period of history".

[29] In an interview with the Corriere della Sera, the Union of Italian Jewish Communities president Amos Luzzatto stated: "I'm not saying it was he who signed the racial laws in 1938.

"[38][39] 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.

[43][44] 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 other Arab countries.

[71][72] 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.

Crosetti and Mauro, who was also sued for omitted control due to being the then editor-in-chief, had been convicted in the first-instance trial but were acquitted on appeal, a sentence that the Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed.

[78][79][80] 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.

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.

Although the kingdom ceased to exist in 1946, King Umberto II did not abdicate his role as fons honorum over the two dynastic orders over which the family has long held sovereignty and grand mastership.

The English translation is: "Victor Amadeus III, by the Grace of God, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Armenia, Duke of Savoy, Montferrat, Chablais, Aosta, and Genevois, Prince of Piedmont and Oneglia, Marquis (of the Holy Roman Empire) in Italy, of Saluzzo, Susa, Ivrea, Ceva, Maro, Oristano, Sezana, Count of Maurienne, Nice, Tende, Asti, Alessandria, Goceano, Baron of Vaud and Faucigny, Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, Tarentaise, Lumellino, Val di Sesia, [and] Prince and perpetual Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire in Italy."

The titles of the Crown of Italy were the following: "Victor Emmanuel II, by the Grace of God and the Will of the Nation, King of Italy, King of Sardinia, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Armenia, Duke of Savoy, Count of Maurienne, Marquis (of the Holy Roman Empire) in Italy; Prince of Piedmont, Carignano, Oneglia, Poirino, Trino; Prince and Perpetual Vicar of the Holy Roman Empire; Prince of Carmagnola, Montmélian with Arbin and Francin, Prince bailiff of the Duchy of Aosta, Prince of Chieri, Dronero, Crescentino, Riva di Chieri and Banna, Busca, Bene, Brà, Duke of Genoa, Monferrat, Aosta, Duke of Chablais, Genevois, Duke of Piacenza, Marquis of Saluzzo (Saluces), Ivrea, Susa, del Maro, Oristano, Cesana, Savona, Tarantasia, Borgomanero and Cureggio, Caselle, Rivoli, Pianezza, Govone, Salussola, Racconigi con Tegerone, Migliabruna e Motturone, Cavallermaggiore, Marene, Modane e Lanslebourg, Livorno Ferraris, Santhià Agliè, Centallo e Demonte, Desana, Ghemme, Vigone, Count of Barge, Villafranca, Ginevra, Nizza, Tenda, Romont, Asti, Alessandria, del Goceano, Novara, Tortona, Bobbio, Soissons, Sant'Antioco, Pollenzo, Roccabruna, Tricerro, Bairo, Ozegna, delle Apertole, Baron of Vaud and del Faucigni, Lord of Vercelli, Pinerolo, della Lomellina, della Valle Sesia, del marchesato di Ceva, Overlord of Monaco, Roccabruna, and 11/12th of Menton, Noble patrician of Venice, [and] patrician of Ferrara."