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Royal
Influence in Italy
By Helen Donegan
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In February of this year the Italian parliament
voted to allow Italy's ex-royal family to cross Italians frontiers.
The family was expelled from Italy after World War II. No
male member has been allowed to enter Italy since then. This
means that the head of the family will return to the country
of his birth and his son may enter the country he has always
dreampt of visiting (or so he says).
 I
would like to go through the history of royality in Italy,
look at some of the palaces that remain from those days and
then finally look at the present "royal" family and what their
iminent re-entry will mean.
The House of Savoy ruled in the Piemonte/Savoy
region of Italy from the 11th century and eventually became
the family to rule all of Italy when the country was unified
in 1861. A series of marriages and alliances joined them with
other Royal houses existing in Italy. Before 1861 the Savoy
family already ruled the Kingdoms of Sardinia and the Two
Sicilies. You can see the family history and fortune below:
The "Golden" period for Naples is said to
have been when the area was ruled by the Bourbons. In 1816
the Kingdom of Naples and the Kingdom of Sicily were amalgamated
to form the Kingdom of the two Sicilies. A rich patrimony
- especially of palaces and other buildings - was left in
both of the regions covered by these kingdoms.
 The
history of Italy before it's unification is a story of dominance
by foreign powers combined with small states governed by a
monorchy or civil power. It was the French who were primarily
responsible for exporting the day of national unity and freedom
for the people. Neopolan brought a lot of blessings to Italy
and even crowned himself King of Italy. He did not live much
in Italy but he did a lot to promote art in the country.
Most of the Royal Families in Europe are tightly
intermingled (some think that is why many are lacking in brain
power). The Savoy family is no exception to this general rule
but they didn't reach any great heights. The present Queen
of Belgium is Italian but not from the Savoy family.
The first step to the formation of the modern
state of Italy was the proclaimation of the kingdom of a united
Italy in Turin on March 17, 1861.  The
king of Piemonte/Sardinia was Victor Emmanuel II and he kept
this name as King of Italy instead of becoming Victor Emmanuel
I. One of the most famous monuments in Rome is the Victor
Emmanuel II monument right in the centre. This is a large
white building known also as the "wedding cake monument" and
not very popular with the people of Rome because it doesn't
blend in with the burnt-orange/brownish colour of the rest
of Rome.
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