From dukes in the Alps to kings of all Italy, and a pizza named after a queen.
Italy had kings for only 85 years. They all came from one family, the House of Savoy, who started as dukes in the mountains between France and Italy and ended in exile after a vote of the people.
The Savoys ruled from Turin, which they turned into a royal city of palaces, gardens and hunting lodges. In the 1800s their small kingdom of Sardinia, with Piedmont at its heart, led the fight to unite Italy. In 1861 Vittorio Emanuele II became the first King of Italy, in the same palace in Turin where he had been born. The capital moved to Florence and then to Rome. The kings brought Italy railways and schools but also wars, and the last of them, Vittorio Emanuele III, let Mussolini come to power. In 1946 Italians voted for a republic. The young King Umberto II, the King of May, left for Portugal after about a month on the throne. Their palaces are now museums, open to everyone.
Pick a colour to follow one story. Every moment shows where you can still see it.
Duke Emanuele Filiberto moves his capital from Chambéry, in today's France, to Turin. The family starts building a royal city.
See it at: Royal Palace of TurinThe Savoys bring the Shroud, a linen cloth they have owned since 1453, to Turin. It stays in the family for more than 500 years.
See it at: Royal Palace of TurinAfter a European war, Duke Vittorio Amedeo II becomes a king: first of Sicily, then, from 1720, of Sardinia.
The architect Filippo Juvarra starts building Stupinigi, a dream of a hunting lodge outside Turin. A bronze stag still stands on top of the dome.
See it at: Palazzina di Caccia di StupinigiVittorio Emanuele, future first King of Italy, is born in Palazzo Carignano in Turin.
See it at: Palazzo CarignanoKing Carlo Alberto opens the Savoy collection of armour and weapons to the public. A few years earlier he had opened the royal picture gallery too.
See it at: Armeria RealeOn 17 March the first Italian parliament, meeting in Palazzo Carignano, proclaims Vittorio Emanuele II King of Italy.
See it at: Museo Nazionale del Risorgimento ItalianoThe capital moves to Florence. The king lives in Palazzo Pitti, the old palace of the Medici.
See it at: Palazzo PittiRome becomes the capital of Italy. The royal family moves into the Quirinal Palace, until then a palace of the popes.
The story goes that in Naples the pizza maker Raffaele Esposito made a pizza for Queen Margherita in the colours of the flag: red tomato, white mozzarella and green basil.
For Italy's 50th birthday the huge white Vittoriano opens in Rome, in honour of the first king. Romans call it the wedding cake. A museum of Italian unification is inside.
See it at: Central Museum of the RisorgimentoOn 2 June Italians, women included, vote for a republic. Umberto II, king for about a month, leaves for Portugal and never returns.
The museums and places where this story comes alive.
The main home of the Savoys, with golden state rooms, royal gardens and a view into Guarini's dark marble chapel of the Shroud.
Knights on horseback in full armour, swords and guns from all over the world. Part of the Royal Museums of Turin.
The royal picture collection, with paintings from Italy and the Netherlands collected by the family over centuries.
Juvarra's hunting lodge, with a great oval ballroom and the bronze stag on the roof. Royal weddings and parties were held here.
In Palazzo Carignano: the story of how Italy became one country, and the hall built for the first Italian parliament.
When Florence was the capital, the king lived here. Visit the royal apartments, then walk in the Boboli Gardens.
Inside the Vittoriano in Rome. Afterwards, take the lift to the roof for one of the best views of the city.
Turin, from 1861. Then Florence in 1865 and Rome in 1871.
Red tomato, white mozzarella, green basil.
That is why he is called the King of May.
A bronze stag, because it was a hunting lodge.