From 1815 to 1860, the history of Savoy began with Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo and the Treaty of Paris on November 20, 1815, restoring the Duchy of Savoy to the House of Savoy after 23 years of revolutionary and Napoleonic rule. This restoration, however, deepened the divide between the Savoyard population and the authoritarian monarchy, as the House of Savoy’s efforts to unify the Italian Peninsula conflicted with local concerns, making Savoyards feel marginalized within an Italophone entity.
Cultural ties with France grew, particularly through the First Empire’s army (1814), with 18 lieutenant generals, 800 officers, and 25,000 Savoyard soldiers among 300,000 troops.: Excerpt from “Journal d'un paysan de Maurienne pendant la Révolution et l'Empire” (Diary of a Maurienne farmer during the Revolution and the Empire) by Joseph-Marie Feaz, published in 1915. The divide widened in the 1840s as the House of Savoy pursued expansionist policies aligned with the Italian Risorgimento. The separation was finalized by the Treaty of Turin in 1860, ceding Savoy to France in exchange for military support that helped the House of Savoy defeat the Austrian Empire, enabling the creation of the Kingdom of Italy, which it ruled.
Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia (1802–1821) and the buon governo
The Duchy of Savoy was restored to the Kingdom of Sardinia by the Treaty of Paris in 1815. King Victor Emmanuel I sought to establish an authoritarian monarchy but abdicated in 1821, unwilling to grant a constitution amid early signs of insurrection.
The reorganization of the duchy
The Treaty of Paris of May 30, 1814, restored only part of the Duchy of Savoy to the King of Sardinia. Article 2 retained France’s pre-war borders, but Articles 7 and 8 allowed French control over most of Savoie Propre, including Chambéry (the capital), and the Genevois region with Annecy, as the Department of Mont-Blanc. The returned portion, titled the Duchy of Savoy, was governed from , renamed Albertville in 1835 after merging with L’Hôpital-sous-Conflans, with a governor, general intendant, and a reduced seven-member . Joseph de Maistre deemed this division of the Savoyard population “intolerable.”
The Treaty of Paris of November 20, 1815, restored Savoy’s unity, though some communes were ceded to the Canton of Geneva. The Duchy of Savoy reorganized, with Chambéry reinstated as the capital, hosting administrative services, and a new provincial territorial structure was established. ProvinceChief TownDistrictsCommunesChangesSavoie PropreChambéry (capital of the duchy)12 – Aix; Chambéry; Chamoux; Châtelard; Échelles; Montmélian; La Motte-Servolex; Pont-de-Beauvoisin; La Rochette; Saint-Genix; Saint-Pierre-d'Albigny; Yenne142In 1818, addition of the district of Ruffieux.ChablaisThonon6 – Abondance; Biot; Bons; Douvaine; Evian; Thonon58In 1818, the district of Bons was eliminated.FaucignyBonneville9 – Bonneville; Chamonix; Cluses; Megève; La Roche; Saint-Jeoire; Sallanches; Samoëns; Taninges69In 1818, the district of Megève was removed and the district of Saint-Gervais was created.GenevoisAnnecy6 – Annecy; Duingt; Faverges; Talloires; Thônes; Thorens-Sales74In 1818, the district of Talloires disappeared; the districts of Rumilly and Albens were merged.Haute-SavoieConflans then Albertville4 – Beaufort; Conflans; Grésy; Ugines41Created in January 1816.MaurienneSaint-Jean-de-Maurienne7 – Aiguebelle; La Chambre; Lanslebourg; Modane; Saint-Étienne-de-Cuines; Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne; Saint-Michel69In 1818, the district of Saint-Étienne was eliminated.RumillyRumilly4 – La Biolle; Ruffieux; Rumilly; Seyssel60Created in December 1816. Suppressed in 1818 and divided among the provinces of Savoie Propre, Genevois, and Carouge.TarentaiseMoûtiers5 – Bourg-Saint-Maurice; Bozel; Moûtiers; Sainte-Foy; Saint-Jean-de-Belleville56In 1818, the district of Sainte-Foy was eliminated.CarougeSaint-Julien3 – Annemasse; Reigner; Saint-Julien58The first province disappeared with the Treaty of Turin in 1816, with the annexation of 24 communes to Switzerland, allowing for the creation of the Canton of Geneva. In 1818, the district of Seyssel was attached.Provinces of the Duchy of Savoy
An authoritarian regime
Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia sought to establish a class-based society in Savoy, emphasizing expanded police powers. The nobility and wealthy business families, holding public, legislative, or administrative roles, formed the upper class, while the middle class accessed military, legal, medical, and academic professions, and the lower class was relegated to manual labor.
On January 5, 1815, the Royal Carabinieri were tasked with targeting individuals deemed societal threats, amid a significant beggar population. Military commanders and majors held monopolistic police power, administering summary justice without trials, which Joseph de Maistre criticized as the “tyranny of the Piedmontese town majors.”
This vigilant organization of a society focused on good morals and a communal peace based on force and police intimidation was mockingly nicknamed by the Savoyards: Il buon Governo.: Louis Comby The Savoyard bourgeoisie found this regime disconnected from public affairs and overly devoted to defending the throne’s interests. Moreover, the only sources of critical information have come from France or Geneva.
The Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion was declared the official religion of the Kingdom of Sardinia, with other religions tolerated.
Despite the clergy's property and rights being confiscated in December 1792,The French revolutionary armies invaded Savoy on the night of September 21–22, 1792. it regained influence under the new regime. Priests, managing civil registers and communal schools, incorporated religious instruction and Italian-language reading and writing into school curricula. The restoration of state Catholicism led to the reconstruction of religious heritage destroyed during the Revolution, with 130 Sardinian neoclassicalchurches built, often called “the last great Savoyard architectural trend.”According to the title of an article by Marius Hudry and Jean-Marc Ferley, published in 1985 in the Revue savoisienne of the Société savoisienne d'histoire et d'archéologie.
The liberal Carbonari, a secret republican society seeking democratic governance, resisted the policies of the Kingdom of Sardinia and acted in Piedmont and Savoy in March 1821. Austria, called upon by the kingdom, suppressed the insurrection, with many agitators, including officers, non-commissioned officers, and Carbonari parliamentarians, sentenced to death. The majority of the population remained passive, and government policies persisted unchanged. However, Carbonari activism led King Victor Emmanuel I to abdicate in 1821, succeeded by his brother, Charles Felix.
Laws and judges The Laws and Constitutions of His Majesty the King of Sardinia, in §15, Book 3, Letter 2, mandated that magistrates and senators uphold the kingdom’s Laws, constitutions, and local articles in their decisions. Laws and ordinances, written in Italian, were translated into French for publication in the Duchy of Savoy.
Judiciary Senate: The Senate of Savoy, the highest authority after the king, tried high-ranking officials and executed the prince’s will, with its seat in Chambéry. Comprising two chambers—the Court of Auditors and the Court of Appeals, which reported to the king in civil matters—it was established by Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy after abolishing the States General. Magistrates, appointed by the king and led by a president titled “Excellency,” validated royal edicts, letters patent, and writs of the House of Savoy. Senate rulings were final and must be executed within 24 hours.
Courts: In each capital of Savoy’s eight provinces, a court of “judicature mage,” established in 1823, consisted of two magistrate judges and a president. It handled civil cases valued over 300 francs and provincial appeals, with appeals of its judgments allowed only for cases exceeding 1,000 francs. Before 1823, the court had a single judge, and the mortgage system for property rights and land ownership was introduced that year.
Conciliations: For disputes below the monetary threshold, the local castellan resolved all conflicts among inhabitants in the Duchy of Savoy.
Death sentences By Senate decree, a condemned person, notified of their sentence by the criminal court clerk, was handed to the executioner. The public could observe the condemned, chained to a stool in prison for 24 hours. On execution day, city bells signalled the condemned’s procession to the gallows, accompanied by penitents and a priest singing psalms, with the hangman holding the rope around their neck for public hanging.
Sentences to the galleys A person sentenced to the galleys was brought to the execution square to observe the punishment, then paraded through the city carrying a boat oar on their shoulders, symbolizing the sentence, under judicial soldiers’ watch and accompanied by tolling bells. They remained chained until sent to the galleys.
Return to the roots After the restoration of the States of Savoy, local elites established scholarly societies to promote regional identity within the Kingdom of Sardinia. In 1819, the (Academy of Sciences, Literature, and Arts of Savoy) was founded in the Duchy of Savoy, modeled on the Academy of Turin, by Cardinal Alexis Billiet, General Count François de Mouxy de Loche, Senator Count Xavier de Vignet, and Knight , a scholar and founder of the newspaper Savoie. In 1851, Deputy Jules Philippe and Magistrate Camille Dunant revived the in Annecy, originally founded in 1607 by François de Sales and Antoine Favre. In 1855, Claude Saillet, François Rabut, and established the (SSHA) in Chambéry. In 1856, Dr. Mottard founded the in the Maurienne region. These societies fostered regional identity within the kingdom.
Charles-Félix of Sardinia (1821–1831) and disappointed hopes
The Piedmontese revolution of 1821 sparked hopes for a liberal constitution in Italy. Under pressure, regent Charles Albert of Savoy-Carignano enacted the “Spanish” constitution, inspired by the Spanish Constitution of 1812. Upon his return, Charles Felix abolished it, restoring an authoritarian monarchy.
The regency of Charles-Albert In the early 19th century, Italian Peninsula secret societies advocated liberal reforms. In Piedmont, a conspiracy emerged in 1820, culminating in a revolt in January 1821. Led by Santorre di Santa Rosa, the conspirators opposed the absolutist rule of Victor Emmanuel I of Sardinia and sought to initiate a war of independence against Austrian influence. They approached Charles Albert of Savoy-Carignano, second in line to the throne, who was influenced by Enlightenment ideas from his time in Paris and Geneva and had past ties to the Carbonari. Santorre di Santa Rosa urged Charles Albert to mediate with Victor Emmanuel I for a liberal constitution or to support the independence movement. On March 10, 1821, the Alessandria garrison, influenced by the Carbonari, revolted. With Charles Felix of Sardinia absent in Modena, Victor Emmanuel I appointed Charles Albert as regent on the night of March 12–13, 1821, anticipating his inexperience might prompt Austrian intervention.
On March 12, 1821, Charles Albert of Savoy-Carignano, acting as regent, promulgated a constitution based on the Spanish Constitution of 1812. Three days later, Charles Felix of Sardinia issued a proclamation condemning Charles Albert’s liberal actions and ordered him to abandon the liberals and join him. Charles Albert complied, secretly leaving on the night of March 20–21. On April 8, Austrian forces entered Piedmont and defeated the liberal troops at the Battle of Novara (1821). The remaining liberals faced persecution, imprisonment, or execution. Charles Albert, disgraced, withdrew to Florence in Tuscany.
Maintenance of a monarchical regime and interest in Savoy