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Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)

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Kingdom of Sardinia
Regnum Sardiniae  (Latin)
Rennu de Sardigna  (Sardinian)
Regno di Sardegna  (Italian)
Regn ëd Sardëgna  (Piedmontese)
1720–1861
Coat of arms
(1833–1848)
Motto: FERT
(Motto for the House of Savoy)
Anthem: S'hymnu sardu nationale
"The Sardinian National Anthem"
Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859 including conquest of Lombardy; client states in light green
Kingdom of Sardinia in 1859 including conquest of Lombardy; client states in light green
StatusSovereign state under Savoy
(1720–1861)
Capital
Common languagesItalian (official, 1760), French (official, pre-1760), Piedmontese, Ligurian, Occitan, Arpitan, Sardinian, Corsican, Catalan, and Spanish
Religion
Roman Catholicism
(official, 1848)
Demonym(s)Sardinian
Government
King 
• 1720–1730 (first)
Victor Amadeus II
• 1849–1861 (last)
Victor Emmanuel II
Prime Minister 
• 1848 (first)
Cesare Balbo
• 1860–1861 (last)
Camillo Benso
LegislatureParliament
• Upper house
Subalpine Senate
• Lower house
Chamber of Deputies
Historical eraLate modern
• Established
1720
1720
1847
• Loss of Savoy and Nice
1860
1861
Population
• 1821
3,974,500
• 1858
5041853[1]
Currency
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Kingdom of Sardinia (1700–1720)
Duchy of Savoy
Republic of Genoa
United Provinces of Central Italy
Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Kingdom of Italy
Second French Empire
Today part of

The term Kingdom of Sardinia denotes the Savoyard state from 1720 to 1861.[2][3][nb 1] From 1720 to 1847, only the island of Sardinia proper was part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, while the other mainland possessions (principally the Duchy of Savoy, Principality of Piedmont, County of Nice, Duchy of Genoa, and others) were held by the House of Savoy in their own right, hence forming a composite monarchy and a personal union,[6][7][8] which was formally referred to as the "States of His Majesty the King of Sardinia".[9] This situation was changed by the Perfect Fusion act of 1847, which created a unitary kingdom. Regardless, historians often use "Sardinia" as a synecdoche to designate the whole Savoyard state from 1720. Because Piedmont was the seat of power and prominent part of the entity, the state is also referred to as Sardinia–Piedmont or Piedmont–Sardinia, and sometimes erroneously as the Kingdom of Piedmont.[10][11][12]

Before becoming a possession of the House of Savoy, the medieval Kingdom of Sardinia had been part of the Crown of Aragon and then of the burgeoning Spanish Empire. With the Treaty of The Hague (1720), the island of Sardinia and its title of kingdom were ceded by the Habsburg and Bourbon claimants to the Spanish throne to the Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus II. The Savoyards united it with their historical possessions on the Italian peninsula, and the kingdom came to be progressively identified with the peninsular states, which included, besides Savoy and Aosta, dynastic possessions like the Principality of Piedmont and the County of Nice, over both of which the Savoyards had been exercising their control since the 13th century and 1388, respectively.

Under Savoyard rule, the kingdom's government, ruling class, cultural models, and centre of population were entirely situated in the peninsula.[13] The island of Sardinia had always been of secondary importance to the monarchy. While the capital of the island of Sardinia and the seat of its viceroys had always been Cagliari by law (de jure), it was the Piedmontese city of Turin, the capital of Savoy since the mid 16th century, which was the de facto seat of power. This situation would be conferred official status with the Perfect Fusion of 1847, when all the kingdom's governmental institutions would be centralized in Turin.

When the peninsular domains of the House of Savoy were occupied and eventually annexed by Napoleonic France, the king of Sardinia temporarily resided on the island for the first time in Sardinia's history under Savoyard rule. The Congress of Vienna (1814–1815), which restructured Europe after Napoleon's defeat, returned to Savoy its peninsular possessions and augmented them with Liguria, taken from the Republic of Genoa. Following Geneva's accession to Switzerland, the Treaty of Turin (1816) transferred Carouge and adjacent areas to the newly-created Swiss Canton of Geneva. In 1847–1848, through an act of Union analogous to the one between Great Britain and Ireland, the various Savoyard states were unified under one legal system with their capital in Turin, and granted a constitution, the Statuto Albertino.

By the time of the Crimean War in 1853, the Savoyards had built the kingdom into a strong power. There followed the annexation of Lombardy (1859), the central Italian states and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1860), Venetia (1866), and the Papal States (1870). On 17 March 1861, to more accurately reflect its new geographic, cultural and political extent, the Kingdom of Sardinia changed its name to the Kingdom of Italy,[14][15][16] and its capital was eventually moved first to Florence and then to Rome. The Savoy-led Kingdom of Sardinia was thus the legal predecessor state of the Kingdom of Italy, which in turn is the predecessor of the present-day Italian Republic.[2][3]

  1. ↑ Ministero di Agricultura, Industria e Commercio (1864). "Censimento degli antichi Stati Sardi e Censimenti Di Lombardia, di Parma e dl Modena" (PDF). Stamperia Reale. p. 111. Retrieved 12 February 2026.
  2. 1 2 Sandulli, Aldo; Vesperini, Giulio (2011). "L'organizzazione dello Stato unitario" (PDF). Rivista trimestrale di diritto pubblico (in Italian): 48–95. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2013. [At p. 94] Dall'indagine sulla legislazione del quadriennio 1861-64, innanzi svolta, trova conferma quanto affermato all'inizio e, cioè, che quello italiano non fu uno Stato nuovo, ma prevalse la continuità con le istituzioni e l'apparato amministrativo sabaudo. Si navigò a vista, senza elaborare un piano di riforme volto a costruire in modo organico e duraturo, preferendo operare per adattamenti e giustapposizioni. È emerso piuttosto chiaramente che si intese assicurare in tempi brevi la costruzione di uno Stato centrale (e periferico) forte, comprimendo gradualmente, soprattutto a seguito dell'emersione della questione meridionale, l'autonomia degli enti locali e i progetti riformatori tendenti al decentramento. [From the investigation into the legislation of the four-year period 1861–64 carried out above, what was stated at the beginning is confirmed, that is, that the Italian state was not a new one, but continuity with the institutions and the administrative apparatus of Savoy prevailed. They navigated by sight, without developing a plan of reforms aimed at building in an organic and lasting way, preferring to operate by adaptations and juxtapositions. It emerged rather clearly that the intention was to ensure in a short time the construction of a strong central (and peripheral) state, gradually compressing, especially following the emergence of the Southern Question, the autonomy of local authorities, and reform projects tending towards decentralization.]
  3. 1 2 3 Casùla, Francesco Cesare (2012). Italia. Il grande inganno. 1861–2011 (in Italian) (e-book ed.). Sassari; Ussana: Carlo Delfino Editore; Logus mondi interattivi (e-book). pp. 32–49. ISBN 978-88-98062-13-3. Retrieved 20 December 2024 – via Google Books. ... 1479, Regno di 'Sardegna e Corsica' malgrado non rappresentasse tutta la Sardegna e malgrado la Corsica non fosse interessata ma considerata solo ambita (non sarà mai conquistata). Poi, dal 1479, si chiamo solo Regno di Sardegna ... poi solo Regno di Sardegna (fino al 1861), poi Regno d'Italia (fino al 1946), e, finalmente, Repubblica Italiana. E, tutto questo, senza alcuna soluzione di continuità. [... 1479, Kingdom of 'Sardinia and Corsica' even though it did not represent all of Sardinia and even though Corsica was not interested but only considered coveted (it will never be conquered). Then, from 1479, it was called only the Kingdom of Sardinia ... then only the Kingdom of Sardinia (until 1861), then the Kingdom of Italy (until 1946), and, finally, the Italian Republic. And, all this, without any solution of continuity.]
  4. ↑ Casùla, Francesco Cesare (2012). Italia. Il grande inganno. 1861–2011 (in Italian) (e-book ed.). Sassari; Ussana: Carlo Delfino Editore; Logus mondi interattivi (e-book). pp. 44–45. ISBN 978-88-98062-13-3. Retrieved 20 December 2024 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ Piras, Enrico (1996). Le monete della Sardegna, dal IV secolo a.C. al 1842 (in Italian). Sassari: Fondazione Banco di Sardegna.
  6. ↑ Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Vol. 12. Penn State University Press. 2013. doi:10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.7. ISBN 978-1-61248-094-7. JSTOR 10.5325/j.ctv1c9hnc2.
  7. ↑ Vester, Matthew (2013). Sabaudian Studies: Political Culture, Dynasty, and Territory (1400–1700). Penn State Press. p. 261. ISBN 978-0-271-09100-6. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  8. ↑ Kalinowska, Anna; Spangler, Jonathan (2021). Power and Ceremony in European History: Rituals, Practices and Representative Bodies since the Late Middle Ages. Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-350-15219-9. Archived from the original on 16 August 2023. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  9. ↑ Stobbs, Christopher (2000). "Savoyard diplomacy in the eighteenth century (1684-1798)". In Belton, Adrian; Frigo, Daniela (eds.). Politics and Diplomacy in Early Modern Italy: The Structure of Diplomatic Practice, 1450–1800. Cambridge Studies in Italian History and Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 210–253. ISBN 978-0-511-52329-8. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 20 December 2024.
  10. ↑ Hearder, Harry (1983). "Cavour and the Achievement of Unity (1852–61)". Italy in the Age of the Risorgimento 1790–1870. Routledge. pp. 53–78. doi:10.4324/9781315836836-12. ISBN 978-1-315-83683-6. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  11. ↑ Chastain, James (1999). "Sardinia-Piedmont, Kingdom of, 1848–1849". Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Ohio University. Archived from the original on 19 January 2023. Retrieved 19 January 2023. Updated 2005.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  12. ↑ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2020). The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-995106-2.
  13. ↑ "Sardinia, Historical Kingdom". Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 20 July 1998. Archived from the original on 4 December 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2024. Updated 14 November 2024 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  14. ↑ Raspi, Raimondo Carta (1971). Storia della Sardegna (in Italian). Milan: Ugo Mursia Editore. Retrieved 26 December 2024 – via Google Books.
  15. ↑ Casula, Francesco Cesare (2001). "Regno di Sardegna". Dizionario storico sardo (in Italian). Sassari: Carlo Delfino Editore. p. 70. ISBN 978-88-7138-241-8. OCLC 315870784. Retrieved 26 December 2024 – via Internet Archive. Il regno, che dal 1475 si chiamò semplicemente Regno di Sardegna rimase giudidicamente aggregato in Corona (Corona d'Aragona, poi Corona di Spagna) fino alla fine della corona d'Aragona ... La sua storia procede fino al Risorgimento, quando, il 17 marzo 1861, ha cambiato nome in Regno d'Italia. [The kingdom, which from 1475 was simply called the Kingdom of Sardinia, remained legally aggregated in the Crown (Crown of Aragon, then Crown of Spain) until the end of the Crown of Aragon ... Its history continues until the Risorgimento, when, on 17 March 1861, it changed its name to the Kingdom of Italy.]
  16. ↑ Ortu, Leopoldo (2011). Storia della Sardegna dal Medioevo all'età contemporanea (in Italian) (1st ed.). Cagliari: CUEC Editrice. ISBN 978-88-8467-647-4. OCLC 711514132.
  1. ↑ Prior to the Savoyard acquisition, the name of the state was originally Regnum Sardiniae or Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae (when the kingdom was still considered to include Corsica) in Latin. It is Regno di Sardegna in Italian, Rennu de Sardigna sc in Sardinian, Regn ëd Sardëgna in Piedmontese, Regnu di Sardegna in Corsican, Reino de Cerdeña in Spanish, Regne de Sardenya ca in Catalan, and Royaume de Sardaigne in French. Despite this, every king of Sardinia continued to retain the nominal title of Rex Corsicae (King of Corsica). The kingdom was initially called Regnum Sardiniae et Corsicae, in that it was originally meant to also include the neighbouring island of Corsica, until its status as a Genoese land was eventually acknowledged by Ferdinand II of Aragon,[4] who dropped the last original bit mentioning Corsica in 1479.[3] Since then, the coinage minted since the establishment of the kingdom also bore the reference to Sardinia only.[5]
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