The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia, French: Maison de Savoie, Arpitan: Mêson de Savouè) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern France. Through gradual expansions, the family grew in power, first ruling the County of Savoy, a small Alpine county northwest of Italy, and later gaining absolute rule of the Kingdom of Sicily. During the years 1713 to 1720, they were handed the Kingdom of Sardinia and would exercise direct rule from then onward as Piedmont–Sardinia, which was the legal predecessor state of the Kingdom of Italy and the Italian Empire, which in turn are the predecessors of the present-day Italian Republic.
From rule of a region on the French–Italian border, by the time of the abolition of monarchy in Italy, the dynasty's realm grew to include nearly all of the Italian peninsula. Through its junior branch of Savoy-Carignano, the House of Savoy led the Italian unification in 1861, and ruled the Kingdom of Italy until 1946. They also briefly ruled the Kingdom of Spain during the 19th century. The Savoyard kings of Italy were Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I, Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II. Umberto II reigned for only a few weeks, as the last king of Italy, before being deposed following the 1946 Italian institutional referendum, after which the Italian Republic was proclaimed.
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