Charles Emmanuel I – Duke of Savoy

Rash ruler who led catastrophic attack on Geneva 

A portrait of Charles Emmanuel I by the Dutch
Renaissance painter Jan Kraeck

Charles Emmanuel I, who developed a reputation for being hot-headed, was born on this day in 1562 in the Castle of Rivoli in Piedmont.

Renowned for his rashness and military aggression in trying to acquire territory, Charles Emmanuel has gone down in history for launching a disastrous attack on Geneva in Switzerland.

In 1602 he led his troops to the city during the night and surrounded the walls. At two o’clock in the morning the Savoy soldiers were ordered to dismount and climb the city walls in full armour as a shock tactic.

However the alarm was raised by a night watchman and Geneva’s army was ready to meet the invaders.

Many of the Savoy soldiers were killed and others were captured and later executed.

The heavy helmets worn by the Savoy troops featured visors with the design of a human face on them. They were afterwards called Savoyard helmets and the Swiss army kept some of them as trophies.

The Savoyard armour featured a helmet
with eyes and a mouth

Geneva’s successful defence of the city walls is still celebrated during the annual festival of L’Escalade, in which confectionary shops sell a cauldron known as a marmite made from chocolate.

Charles Emmanuel, from whom Victor Emmanuel II and the subsequent Italian kings are descended, had become Duke of Savoy in 1680 after having had a good education, which had made him multilingual.

He married a distant cousin, Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain, who bore him ten children.

Charles Emmanuel tried to expand his duchy in a bid to become King and occupied French territory during the reign of his cousin, Henry III. When Henry IV became King he demanded the return of the land, but Charles Emmanuel refused and so they went to war.

Eventually the area of Saluzzo, now in the provinces of Cuneo and Turin, went to Savoy in exchange for Bresse, which they had also occupied.

A shop in Geneva selling chocolate marmites - cauldrons - at
the time of the festival of L'Escalade

Charles Emmanuel supported France against Spain in 1610 but later changed sides and supported Spain against France in order to continue his policy of expansion. When Philip II of Spain sent an invasion force to Italy, Charles Emmanuel declared himself neutral. However, a French army then marched into Savoy and defeated the Savoy army.

In 1630, Charles Emmanuel died of a stroke at Savigliano and was succeeded by his son, Vittorio Amedeo.

Travel tip:

The ninth-century Castle of Rivoli in Piedmont, where Charles Emmanuel I was born, was a former residence of the Royal House of Savoy in Rivoli, which is in the province of Turin. The Castle is now home to the museum of contemporary art of Turin, Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporaneo.

The triumphal arch in Savigliano, erected
in honour of Charles Emmanuel I

Travel tip:

Savigliano, where Charles Emmanuel I died, is a comune of Piedmont in the Province of Cuneo, about 50 kilometres south of Turin. Now an industrial centre, it retains some traces of its ancient walls and has a triumphal arch, which was erected in honour of the marriage of the Duke of Savoy, Charles Emmanuel I, with Infanta Catherine Michelle of Spain.

More reading:

Victor Emmanuel II proclaimed first King of the united Italy

How Savoy Queen Margherita came to have a pizza named in her honour

Victor Emmanuel II given prestigious burial despite excommunication from the Catholic Church

Also on this day:

1848: The Sicilian uprising against the Bourbons

(Picture credits: Savoyard helmet by Golden Hound; shop window by Schutz; Savigliano arch by Davide Papalini; all via Wikimedia Commons)



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Galeazzo Ciano - ill-fated Fascist politician

The son-in-law Mussolini had shot as a traitor

Galeazzo Ciano, pictured at his ministerial desk
at the Palazzo Chigi in 1937

Galeazzo Ciano, part of the Fascist Grand Council that voted for Benito Mussolini to be thrown out of office as Italy faced crushing defeat in the Second World War, was killed by a firing squad in Verona on this day in 1944 after being found guilty of treason.

The 40-year-old former Foreign Minister in Mussolini's government was also his son-in-law, having been married to Edda Mussolini since he was 27.  Yet even his position in the family did not see him spared by the ousted dictator, who had been arrested on the orders of King Victor Emmanuel III but, after being freed by the Nazis, later exacted revenge against those he felt had betrayed him.

Ciano, a founding member of the Italy's National Fascist Party whose marriage to the Duce's daughter certainly helped him advance his career, had largely been supportive of Mussolini and was elevated to Foreign Minister in part because of his role in the military victory over Ethiopia, in which he was a bomber squadron commander. Yet he expressed doubts from the start over Italy's readiness to take part in a major conflict.

In his diaries, which Edda was later to use without success as a bargaining tool as she tried to save her husband's life, Ciano recalled that he had tried to persuade Mussolini against committing to an alliance with Hitler, but in vain. He wrote: "At first he agrees with me - then he says that honour compels him to march with Germany."

Ciano, centre, to the right of Hitler and Mussolini, to the left
of  Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Göring, in Munich in 1938

His entry on June 10, 1940, when Mussolini declared war on Great Britain and France, included the words: "May God help Italy!"

Ciano clashed with the leader again in January 1943, urging him to seek terms for an armistice with the Allies rather than see Italy, which had already suffered significant damage in bombing raids, exposed to the destruction of a full-scale invasion.  This time he and his fellow cabinet members were all sacked.

At the meeting of the Grand Council on July 24, convened by Mussolini himself after news reached him of the Allied landings in Sicily, it was Mussolini's announcement that the Germans were thinking of abandoning southern Italy that prompted fierce argument, culminating in a vote on whether Victor Emmanuel III should take back his full constitutional powers, in effect sidelining Mussolini.  The count was 19-8 in favour.

Mussolini was arrested the following day after appearing to disregard the vote and arriving at his office as if he would continue to be in charge.  It was at this point that Ciano made what would prove a fatal mistake.

With anti-Fascist sentiment growing in Italy, he feared that he too might be arrested by new prime minister Pietro Badoglio's incoming government regardless of his vote against the Duce. He fled to Germany with Edda and their three children in late August, seeking sanctuary.

What he did not know was that Hitler was furious that Mussolini had been ousted. The German leader had Ciano arrested and detained, and when he restored the Italian leader to power in his new Italian Social Republic, having first sent paratroopers to rescue him from house arrest at the Gran Sasso mountain resort in Abruzzo, one of his first acts was to send Ciano back to face trial for treason.

Emilio Pucci

Edda, meanwhile, had enlisted the help of her friend Emilio Pucci - later to become a major fashion designer - in offering Ciano's diaries, which contained much sensitive material, to the Germans in return for her husband's release.  The offer was turned down.  Pucci helped Edda escape to Switzerland - with the diaries - but was himself detained and interrogated, released only on condition that he tracked Edda down in Switzerland and warned her that if she ever published the diaries she would be killed.

Ciano, who had been born in Livorno in 1903 and had joined his father, Costanza, an Admiral in the First World War, in supporting Fascism from the outset, was tried in Verona along with four other members of the Grand Council. After guilty verdicts were returned, the five were tied to chairs and shot in the back.  Ciano's last reputed words were: "Long live Italy!"

Edda, who died in Rome 51 years later at the age of 84, never forgave her father.  While she was in Switzerland, she was tracked down by an American war correspondent who ensured that her husband's diaries were published in London in 1946.  Evidence from them was used in the prosecution of Hitler’s Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, during the post-war Nuremberg Trials.

Travel tip:

Livorno, where Ciano was born, is an historic port on the Tuscan coast, notable for the area built by the Medici family in the 17th century around the town's canal network that has become known as Quartiere La Venezia - the Venice Quarter. Originally comprising warehouses and some impressive houses built by merchants around Piazza della Repubblica and Via Borra, it is nowadays a popular area for nightlife, with many bars and restaurants.

Titian's Assumption of the Virgin in
the Duomo at Verona

Travel tip:

Verona is most famous for the Roman amphitheatre known as the Arena in Piazza Bra, a lovely square ringed by bars and restaurants, and for the Casa di Giulietta - Juliet's House - which was supposedly the location of the balcony scene in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, although there is no actual  evidence that it was.  There are many other genuinely historic buildings, including the 14th century castle Castelvecchio, which sits on the banks of the Adige river, and the Duomo, which was rebuilt in the 12th century after the 8th century original was destroyed in an earthquake, in which the artworks include an Assumption of the Virgin by Titian.

More reading:

Republic of Salò was Mussolini's last stand

Mussolini freed by Nazis in audacious Gran Sasso raid

How fashion designer Emilio Pucci helped Mussolini's daughter escape the Nazis

Also on this day:

1975: Birth of Italy's Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi

(Picture credit: Titian painting by Didier Descouens via Wikimedia Commons)

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Flaminio Bertoni - sculptor and car designer

Visionary ideas turned Citroën into style icon

Flaminio Bertoni in his workshop

The sculptor and automobile designer Flaminio Bertoni, the creative genius behind the groundbreaking Citroën cars of the 1930s, 40s and 50s, was born on this day in 1903 in what is now the Masnago district of Varese.

Bertoni, who lived in or near Paris from 1931 until his death in 1964, designed bodies for the stylish Traction Avant luxury executive car and the enduring workhorse 'Deux Chevaux' - the 2CV - which became almost a symbol of France.

Yes both of these were eclipsed, some would say, by the brilliance of Bertoni's aerodynamic, futuristic Citroën DS - also known as 'the Goddess' - which was named the most beautiful car of all time by the magazine Classic and Sports Car and was described by the Chicago Institute of Design soon after its launch as among the '100 most beautiful things in the world'.

Bertoni was fêted in France, where he was made a Knight of Arts and Letters by the government of Charles de Gaulle in 1961 but it was not until almost 40 years after his death that his achievements were given recognition in his home country, where his son, Leonardo, set up a museum in Varese to celebrate his work.

Even as a small child, Bertoni's ambitions were clear. He immersed himself in books about his idols, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, from the age of six.

Bertoni's Citroën DS was named 'the most beautiful car
of all time' by the magazine, Classic and Sports Car

Although he would embrace car design with passion, his involvement with the nascent automobile industry came about by accident.  Having graduated from technical college in Varese, he was forced by the death of his father to look for a job rather than continue his formal education further.

It just so happened that the first offer of work came from a small car manufacturer in Varese, Carrozzeria Macchi, where he was taken on as a joiner's apprentice.  The company soon realised where his true talent lay, however, and within only a few years he was their head draftsman.

His first visit to France came in 1925, when he was invited to Paris following a visit to the Varese factory by some French engineers.  Bertoni met André Citroën and was impressed by his energy and forward thinking, yet at that stage wished to make his career in Italy.

Within six years, however, he had decided to make his home in Paris.  Having fallen out with Carrozzeria Macchi because his ideas were seen as too advanced, and when his mother made it clear she disapproved of his girlfriend, Giovanna Barcella, the lure of a new life in the sophisticated French capital, which was at the forefront of automotive design at the time, became too much to resist.

Bertoni's iconic 2CV remained in production for 42
years, with sales topping five million

When he and Giovanna stepped off the train at Gard de Lyon in October 1931 he had no job and she was already three months' pregnant but everything fell into place the following year. Two months after the birth of his son, whom he would name Leonardo in honour of Da Vinci, he was taken on by Citroën.

His first design triumph came in 1934 with the Traction Avant - literally 'front wheel drive' - which he presented to the company not as a design on paper but a fully scaled sculpture in plasticine.  The car had a lightweight all-metal body and a substantially bigger passenger compartment than was typical. It seemed certain to be a success but its development had been so expensive that the company was bankrupted soon after its launch.

Fortunately, the tyre company Michelin not only came to the rescue of the company but were keen to see the Traction Avant project realised.  Eventually, 750,000 were sold.

The next few years were difficult for Bertoni.  In 1936, dismayed at how little time her husband spent at home - while not working, he was exhibiting his sculptures and drawings and enjoying the Paris nightlife - Giovanna returned to Italy, taking Leonardo with her.  After the outbreak of the Second World War, he was twice interned as an alien, although on each occasion he was quickly released.  He also spent a year in hospital after a serious motorcycle accident, although he put the time to good use by studying for an architecture degree.

Once recovered, he took Citroën's plans for what was originally named the TPV - a 'tres petite voiture' to rival the German 'people's car', the Volkswagen - and developed the distinctive bodywork lines that would instantly set apart the fabled 2CV.  Conceived at first as a purely functional vehicle aimed at agricultural workers, it would in time become a French icon.  Launched in 1948, it remained in production for 42 years, selling more than five million.

The 1930s luxury saloon the Traction Avant was
Bertoni's first major success designing for Citroën

By now married for the second time, to the dancer Lucienne Marodon, he followed the 2CV with a car aimed at a much different market as France recovered from war keen to reconnect with its opulent past.  The Citroën DS - the letters were a play on the French word 'Déesse', meaning Goddess - was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show in 1955, where visitors were wowed not only by the beautiful sculpted curves of the car's superstructure but by its hydro-pneumatic suspension, front power disc brakes and power steering. It was hailed as 'a magic carpet ride' and 12,000 orders were placed on the opening day.

Bertoni created one more fine car, the Ami 6, and also managed to put his architectural skills into practice in the United States, where a system for building houses designed by Bertoni enabled 1,000 homes to go up in 100 days at a project in St Louis, Missouri.

He frequently exhibited and won prizes for his drawings and sculptures both in Italy and France.  The imposing Monument to the Fallen in Varese's Piazza della Repubblica was in part sculpted by Bertoni, working for Enrico Butti.

Bertoni, who always walked with a stick after his motorcycle accident, which left him with one leg shorter than the other, died in Paris in 1964 after suffering a stroke.  His second son, Serge, from his marriage to Lucienne Maradon, passed away a few years later, the victim of a road accident.

Travel tip:

Leonardo Bertoni, who died in 2015 at the age of 82, campaigned for the last 15 years of his life to see that his father's memory was preserved in his native country, setting up a museum in Varese to celebrate his work.  The museum has since closed but the exhibits are now on display at the Museum of Transport at Ranco, about 20km west of Varese on Lake Maggiore.

The Estensi Palace and Gardens in Varese

Travel tip:

Varese is a pleasant city in northern Lombardy overlooking the lake of the same name, situated about 20 minutes from Milan Malpensa airport and about 55km (34 miles) from the city of Milan.  The city is small enough to get around on foot, with attractions such as the central Piazza Monte Grappa, the Basilica San Vittore and the spectacular Estensi Palace and Gardens within a short distance of one another.

More reading:

Battista 'Pinin' Farina - Ferrari's design mastermind

Vittorio Jano - engineer who created Ferrari's classic V-8 Dino engine

How industrialist Enrico Piaggio gave Italy the Vespa motor scooter

Also on this day:

967: Death of San Pietro Orseolo, doge of Venice

(Picture credits: Citroën DS by Alexandre Prévot; 2CV by Croquant; Traction Avant by Abrimaal; Estensi Palace by Docfra; all via Wikimedia Commons)

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Victor Emmanuel II dies

Christian burial for the King excommunicated by the Pope

Victor Emmanuel II: a portrait from 1860 

Victor Emmanuel II, the first King of Italy, died on this day in 1878 in Rome.

He was buried in a tomb in the Pantheon in Rome and was succeeded by his son, who became Umberto I, King of Italy.

Victor Emmanuel II was allowed to be buried in the Pantheon by Pope Pius IX, even though he had previously excommunicated him from the Catholic Church.

Before becoming King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, as King of Sardinia-Piedmont, had secretly encouraged Garibaldi in the conquest of Sicily and Naples. He had then led his Piedmontese army into papal territory to link up with Garibaldi, despite the threat of excommunication.

In his quest to become King of a fully united Italy, Victor Emmanuel achieved two notable military triumphs. He managed to acquire the Veneto after linking up with Bismark’s Prussia in a military campaign in 1866. Also, after the withdrawal of the French occupying troops, his soldiers were able to enter Rome through a breach in the walls at Porta Pia and take over the city.

A painting by Sebastiano de Albertis shows Garibaldi hailing
Victor Emmanuel II as King of Italy at Teano, near Naples 

This had antagonised Pius IX so much that he refused all overtures from the new King, when he attempted a reconciliation.

The first King of Italy had been born Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso in 1820 in Turin.

In 1842 Victor Emmanuel married his cousin, Adelaide of Austria, and was styled as the Duke of Savoy, before becoming King of Sardinia-Piedmont after his father, Charles Albert, abdicated the throne following a humiliating military defeat by the Austrians at the Battle of Novara.

After he was proclaimed King of a united Italy in 1861 by the country’s new Parliament, the monarch styled himself Victor Emmanuel II, perhaps implying that Italy had always been ruled by the House of Savoy. This immediately provoked criticism from some factions.

Pope Pius IX

Victor Emmanuel II could trace his ancestry back to Victor Emmanuel I, who had been King of Sardinia from 1802 until his death in 1824.

Victor Emmanuel II had become King of Sardinia in 1849 after his father’s abdication. His father had succeeded a distant cousin to become King of Sardinia in 1831.

The Kingdom of Sardinia is considered to be the legal predecessor to the Kingdom of Italy.

As King of Sardinia, Victor Emmanuel II had appointed Count Camillo Benso of Cavour as Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, who had then masterminded a clever campaign to put him on the throne of a united Italy.

Victor Emmanuel II had become the symbol of the Risorgimento, the Italian unification movement in the 19th century.  He had supported Garibaldi’s Expedition of the Thousand in 1860, which resulted in the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, giving him control over the southern part of the country.  But when he ascended the throne there were still two major territories left outside the new Kingdom, the Veneto and Rome.

The scene outside the Quirinale Palace at the start of Victor
Emmanuel II's funeral procession

He acquired the Veneto in 1866 and, in 1870, after the French had withdrawn from Rome, he set up the new Italian capital there and chose as his residence the Palazzo del Quirinale.

The Italian people called him Padre della Patria - Father of the Fatherland.

Travel tip:

Porta Pia is a gate in Rome’s ancient walls, named after Pope Pius lV, who commissioned Michelangelo to design it just before his death in Rome in 1564. You will find it at the end of Via XX Settembre, which goes off Piazza di San Bernardo, not far from the Quirinale Palace, which Victor Emmanuel II had chosen as his residence, and the Trevi fountain. A marble and brass monument, the Monumento al Bersagliere, commemorating the liberation of Rome, was put up near the place where the Italian troops found a way through the walls.

The Pantheon has been standing in the Piazza della Rotonda
 since AD118 and is one of Rome's finest ancient buildings

Travel tip:

Victor Emmanuel II is buried in the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda in Rome. Considered to be Rome’s best preserved ancient building, the Pantheon was built in AD 118 on the site of a previous building dating back to 27 BC. It was consecrated as a church in the seventh century and many other important people are buried there, including Victor Emmanuel II’s son, Umberto I, and his wife, Queen Margherita.

More reading:

How the capture of Rome completed Italian unification

First Italian parliament convenes to proclaim Victor Emmanuel II King of Italy

Victor Emmanuel I - King of Sardinia

Also on this day:

1878: Umberto I is proclaimed Italy's new monarch

(Picture credit: Pantheon by Klaus F via Wikimedia Commons)

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