King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy of Sardinia
(1820-1878)

King of Sardinia (1849-1861) and King of Italy (1861-1878)

Died aged c. 58

Victor Emmanuel II (Italian: Vittorio Emanuele II; full name: Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia from 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of an independent, united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. Borrowing from the old Latin title Pater Patriae of the Roman emperors, the Italians gave him the epithet of Father of the Fatherland (Italian: Padre della Patria). Born in Turin as the eldest son of Charles Albert, Prince of Carignano, and Maria Theresa of Austria, he fought in the First Italian War of Independence (1848–1849) before being made King of Piedmont-Sardinia following his father's abdication. He appointed Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, as his Prime Minister, and he consolidated his position by suppressing the republican left. In 1855, he sent an expeditionary corps to side with French and British forces during the Crimean War; the deployment of Italian troops to the Crimea, and the gallantry shown by them in the Battle of the Chernaya (16 August 1855) and in the siege of Sevastopol led the Kingdom of Sardinia to be among the participants at the peace conference at the end of the war, where it could address the issue of the Italian unification to other European powers. This allowed Victor Emmanuel to ally himself with Napoleon III, Emperor of France. France had supported Sardinia in the Second Italian War of Independence, resulting in liberating Lombardy from Austrian rule. Victor Emmanuel supported the Expedition of the Thousand (1860–1861) led by Giuseppe Garibaldi, which resulted in the rapid fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in southern Italy. However, Victor Emmanuel halted Garibaldi when he appeared ready to attack Rome, still under the Papal States, as it was under French protection. In 1860, Tuscany, Modena, Parma and Romagna decided to side with Sardinia-Piedmont, and Victor Emmanuel then marched victoriously in the Marche and Umbria after the victorious Battle of Castelfidardo over the Papal forces. This led to his excommunication from the Catholic Church until 1878, just before his death in the same year. He subsequently met Garibaldi at Teano, receiving from him the control of southern Italy and becoming the first King of Italy on 17 March 1861. In 1866, the Third Italian War of Independence allowed Italy to annex Veneto. In 1870, Victor Emmanuel also took advantage of the Prussian victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War to conquer the Papal States after the French withdrew. He entered Rome on 20 September 1870 and set up the new capital there on 2 July 1871. He died in Rome in 1878, and was buried in the Pantheon. The Italian national Victor Emmanuel II monument in Rome, containing the Altare della Patria, was built in his honor.

DbPedia
Wikidata Wikipedia

Family tree

Commemorated on 5 plaques

A Vittorio Emanuele II Padre della patria Nel VI anniversario della sua morte

English translation: To Victor Emmanuel II Father of the Homeland on the sixth anniversary of his death

Municipo, Piazza Umberto I, Capri, Italy where they is commemorated (1884)

X. Vittorio Emanuele II decretava il riordinamento del Museo Nazionale ne modificava il governo statuiva che vi si custodissero la raccolta cumana del conte di siracusa donata del Principe di Carignano il Museo Santangelo acquistato per pubblico uso dal Municipio di Napoli gli arazzi legati dal Marchese del Vasto la collezione palatina delle stampe il medagliere della R. Zecca la suppellettile storica delle officine monetarie

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Napoli, Italy where they decreed the reorganization of the National Museum

QUEST'OSPIZIO DELL'INDIGENZA DURATO CON VARIA FORTUNA E CON DISCIPLINE DIFFORMI FINO AL 1868 FU IN QUELL'ANNO PER DECRETO DI VITTORIO EMANUELE RE D'ITALIA RICONOSCIUTO COME OPERA PIA ED EBBE PROPRIE COSTITUZIONI CHE LO FECERO ASILO DI CARITÀ NON DI PENA OVE TROVANO RIPOSATO VIVERE GLI IMPOTENTI AL LAVORO E SI ADDESTRANO ALLE ARTI MECCANICHE I GIOVANI ABBANDONATI PROVVEDENDO IL COMUNE DI FIRENZE A MANTENERVI I POVERI DELLA CITTÀ TOLTI ALLA VERGOGNA DEL MENDICARE IL COMMENDATORE CARLO PERI DIRETTORE DELL'OPERA PIA NEL 1870 P. Q. M.

English translation: THIS HOSPICE OF POVERTY LASTED WITH VARYING LUCK AND WITH DIFFERENT DISCIPLINES UNTIL 1868 WAS IN THAT YEAR BY DECREE OF VICTORY EMANUELE KING OF ITALY RECOGNIZED AS PIOUS WORK AND HAD ITS OWN CONSTITUTIONS THAT THEY DID ASYLUM OF CHARITY NOT OF PAIN WHERE THEY FIND RESTED TO LIVE THE HELPLESS AT WORK AND TRAIN THE YOUNG ABANDONED TO THE MECHANICAL ARTS, PROVIDING THE TOWN OF FLORENCE TO KEEP THE POOR OF THE CITY THERE. REMOVED FROM THE SHAME OF BEGGING COMMENDATORE CARLO PERI DIRECTOR OF THE PIOUS WORK IN 1870 P. M. [AWS Translate]

Pia Casa di Lavoro of Montedomini - Via dei Malcontenti, Florence, Italy where they was (1870)

Ai fattori dell italia una libera indipendente Vittorio Emanuele II Camillo Benso di Cavour Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Mazzini Perugia decreto municipale iv maggio mdccclxxii

English translation: To the factors of Italy a free independent Vittorio Emanvele II Camillo Benso di Cavour Giuseppe Garibaldi Giuseppe Mazzini Perugia Municipal Decree 4 May 1872 [AWS Translate]

Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria - Corso Pietro Vannucci, Perugia, Italy where they was

Il 15 marzo 1860 la suprema corte di cassazione delle province di toscana veduti i parziali resultati del suffragio universale. promulgo in firenze il plebiscito del popolo toscano che decreto l unione alla monarchia costituzionale del re vittorio emanuele. dettero voto 386,445 cittadini 366,571 per l unione 14,925 per il regno separato del comune di cortona 5484 furono i voti per l unione 288 per il regno separato

English translation: On 15 March 1860, the Supreme Court of Cassation of the Provinces of Tuscany saw the partial results of universal suffrage. I enacted the plebiscite of the Tuscan people in Florence What decree the union with the constitutional monarchy of King Vittorio Emanuele. 386,445 citizens voted 366,571 for the union 14,925 for the separated kingdom Of the municipality of Cortona 5484 were the votes for the union 288 for the separate kingdom [AWS Translate]

Palazzo Comunale - Piazza della Repubblica, Cortona, Italy where they was (1860)