“Over the centuries, the cradle of a dynasty of French language and culture, but which the hazards of history have made the mother of Italian unity…”*

A greatly coveted frontier region, Savoy was for a long time a nation in her own right, powerful and independent, with her own history and tradition.

The prehistoric period saw the appearance of the first hunters approaching the valleys and subalpine mountains after the retreat of the glaciers (from 12,000 B.C.). It was during the Roman colonisation that many roads were laid down, at a period which saw the development of several townships such as Aquae (Aix-les-Bains) and Lemencum (Chambéry).

In the late 4th century, the region appeared under the name of Sapaudia after the settlement of the Burgondes. Then it was called Saboia under the Carolingians, before the consecration of Humbert 1st of the White Hands in 1030. Originally from Burgundy, he was the first Count to be installed in Maurienne. From the 13th to the 15th century, as it formed alliances and fought combats, the House of Savoy was to grow politically and territorially: to its original possessions (Savoy, Bugey, Maurienne, Chablais, Val d'Aosta, valley of Susa, lordships of the Viennois) were added the Faucigny, the Genevois, the Pays de Vaud, the Bresse, the County of Nice and the lands of Piedmont. In 1416, Amédée VIII of Savoy obtained the title of Duke, a title which was to legitimise at European level the geostrategic role of Savoy and which was to earn its rulers the nickname of "Gatemen to the Alps" since they controlled all the crossings.

After a first French occupation in 1536, Savoy surrendered to Duke Emmanuel-Philibert in 1559. He judged that Savoy was too exposed to invasions and, looking more and more "over the hills", he transferred his capital from Chambery to Turin in 1562. After the wars and occupations of the 17th century, Savoy was attached to revolutionary France in 1792 and became the department of the Mont-Blanc. Gradually it came within the limits of the present-day departments. In 1814, after Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna gave all its states to the Sardinian monarchy. In 1848, the "Statuto" marked the advent of a true liberal constitutional monarchy. But Savoy then became the price of an alliance with Napoleon III, convinced by Cavour of helping the Piedmontese to create Italian unity against Austria. The two men secretly negotiated and after the battle of Solferino, the Treaty of Turin of 24 March 1860 was the prelude to the annexing of Savoy and Nice to France. As in the Italian principalities which in this way created their unity around the House of Savoy, a vote of the people was organised to ratify the annexing. On 14 June 1860, the solemn possession-taking took place at the Castle of Chambery. Savoy was thus the last province to become French.

*André Chamson (member of the French Academy; foreword to the "Archives of the former Duchy of Savoy")