Piedmont-Sardinia in 1720

Piedmont-Sardinia was the unofficial name of the estates held by the House of Savoie. While Savoie started as a small county in the Western part of the Alps in the 12th Century, the counts became dukes and greatly expanded their territory to the East, annexing the principality of Turin and relocating their capital there in 1563. This made that family one of the most powerful in the Italian peninsula, though they did not hold the title of King. That changed when the treaty of Utrecht awarded the Savoies the island of Sicily, which was a kingdom. Because of the remote location of that island, the Savoies managed to swap Sicily for Sardinia in 1720, thus calling themselves Kings of Sardinia. Ironically enough, the Sardinians felt like a second class group compared with their continental compatriots, who were far more numerous and far richer. The Kings of Sardinia were able one more time to increase their reach and became kings of a unified Italy in 1861. The Kingdom changed to a Republic in 1947. This map shows the Kingdom of Sardinia at its creation in 1720. More on Piedmont-Sardinia