The Capital of Italy
The Savoia reign was interrupted in 1798, when Napoleon’s troops occupied the city and forced Carlo Emanuele IV to abdicate and flee to Sardinia. Piedmont was annexed to France and Turin’s fortifications, a distinctive feature of its urban layout to that moment, were destroyed. In 1814, the Congress of Vienna restored Turin to the Savoia family. Following Carlo Alberto’s concessions in the Albertine Statute, Vittorio Emanuele II’s accession to the throne and the work of Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the city came to the forefront of national history, leading the process that culminated in the Unification of Italy. In 1861, Turin became the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy and Parliament was installed in Palazzo Carignano.
