In the memory of Italians, he is the “Padre della Patria” (The Father of the Fatherland) or the “Re galantuomo” (the king gentleman). Victor-Emmanuel II is above all the first king of Italy, the one who unified – through battles, sieges but also plebiscites – the Boot. “If today Italy is Italy, it is thanks to Victor Emmanuel II”, assures one of his descendants, Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy. Yet nothing predestined this man, more interested in hunting and women than in business and power, to become such a national figure. Not even his birth.
Is Victor-Emmanuel the one we believe? Born from the union between Charles-Albert, Prince of Carignan, and Maria Theresa of Tuscany, daughter of Grand Duke Ferdinand III of Tuscany, he could ultimately only be the son of a merchant, and more precisely of a butcher. This is the theory of several historians who argue that its origins are far from aristocratic. It is not only the lack of resemblance to his father that lets him think, but also the circumstances of this birth. In 1820, there had been a fire in the palace of Turin, in particular in the part where the newborn baby of Maria Theresa of Tuscany was. If his nurse officially perished, it is said at the time that the baby, yet at his side, survived. A miracle that seems unlikely, and which therefore leads to think that the real heir would have died in the flames, and that the princely couple would have replaced him with the son of a butcher. From this assumption, it is not yet clear what is wrong and what is true. In any case, the destiny of Victor-Emmanuel II is certainly shrouded in legend.
From Florence to Turin, Victor-Emmanuel follows his father everywhere, always accompanied by numerous tutors who want to instill in the heir all the culture necessary for his rank. But the child is reluctant to study. He prefers more substantial pleasures, such as good food and hunting, to which women will quickly be added in adolescence. In 1842, having become a general, he married his cousin Marie Adélaïde of Habsbourg-Lorraine. This will not prevent him from multiplying the mistresses.
After the abdication of Charles-Albert, defeated in Novare by the Austrians in 1849, Victor-Emmanuel became King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy. He was therefore keen to continue the plan outlined by his father: that of Italian reunification, otherwise called the Risorgimento. To subdue all independent kingdoms, he can count on the Count of Cavour, his Prime Minister, and on Garibaldi, who will lead the troops to the final struggle. It is he who will conquer each territory, by means of arms, successive sieges and relentlessness. Thus, he will come to the end of the patience of Marie-Sophie in Bavaria, wife of the king of the Two Sicilies, who will nevertheless try to save her last bastion, the maritime fortress of Gaeta.
Even if his power extends more and more, Victor-Emmanuel II remains nonetheless a monarch with sober tastes. In his castles, he does not like tinsel or frills. In his pleasures too, he seeks only simplicity. Her cute sin remains women, and in particular one: “La bella Rosina”, Rosa Vercellana, the great love of his life. This one is not an aristocrat, but the daughter of the drum major of the Sardinian army. Victor-Emmanuel does not care about caste. So much so that he gave her two children and married her, in a morganatic marriage, in Rome on November 7, 1869.
After having succeeded in making Rome the capital of his new and incredibly vast kingdom, Victor Emmanuel II can congratulate himself on having accomplished the enterprise started by his father, decades earlier. However, he will not benefit much from this satisfaction. On the night of January 5, 1878, he was seized with malarial fever and died four days later.
Secrets d’Histoire, Victor-Emmanuel II, the first king of Italy, Monday March 15 at 9:05 p.m., on France 3.
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