Royale Maison de Savoie

History written in the white heat of its own moment. Grégoire Hudry-Menos, a journalist born in the very heart of Savoy, offers an intimate study of the dynasty that found itself unexpectedly crowned as the architects of a new Italy. The House of Savoy, mere regional rulers of a mountainous Alpine territory, ascended to the throne of a unified nation in 1861, and Hudry-Menos was there to document it. These studies, dedicated to Victor-Emmanuel II, capture the dizzying ascent of a family that went from Piedmontese princes to kings of Italy within a decade. For readers fascinated by the messy, electrifying birth of nations, this contemporaneous account provides a window into how the unification felt to those living inside it.