The Royal Museums of Turin tell the story of Margaret of Savoy with two dossier exhibitions

The Royal Museums of Turin are dedicating two dossier exhibitions to Margaret of Savoy (1851-1926), the first queen of Italy, on the occasion of the centenary of her death. The exhibitions, both of which can be visited from May 21, 2026, take place in two separate venues of the museum complex and remain open until January 6, 2027. The first exhibition, entitled Margherita, First Queen of Italy. History, Culture and Style between the Palace and the Royal Library, is set up in the spaces of the Royal Library, which preserves an important part of the book collection that belonged to the queen. The project is curated by Lorenza Santa, Fabio Uliana and Maria Luisa Ricci and presents a selection of printed books, archival documents, engravings and photographs, most of them previously unpublished. The material on display makes it possible to reconstruct the cultural interests of the sovereign, described by the sources as an attentive reader and music lover, as well as a central figure in the circulation of gifts and objects of representation from different areas of the national territory. These elements are interpreted as indicators of both the queen’s popularity and the establishment of a taste traceable to the fin de siècle.

The itinerary opens with a historical framing section devoted to Turin as the Savoy capital. The materials presented include a topographical map of the city dated 1830, a selection of the Royal Calendars, and a view of Piazza Castello and Piazzetta Reale during the carnival celebrations of 1857.

The narrative continues with archival documents, volumes and historical photographs that reconstruct the main stages of Margaret of Savoy’s life. The sources testify to her birth at the Palazzo Chiablese in Turin, which is also mentioned in the Gazzetta Piemontese and Onorato Roux’s 1901 biography, which features an Art Nouveau binding. The exhibition also documents the celebrations of her marriage to her cousin Umberto di Savoia, which took place in 1868 in Turin, Florence and Genoa, and her accession to the throne in 1878, when Umberto assumed the title Umberto I. The section also includes reference to the sovereign’s assassination in Monza on July 29, 1900.

Specific insight is devoted to the cultural context of the time. Among the materials on display is Alessandro Manzoni ’s autograph manuscript entitled Dell’unità della lingua e dei mezzi per diffonderla, related to the work of the Commission for National Linguistic Unification, of which the writer assumed the presidency in January 1868.

The exhibition also dedicates a section to Giosuè Carducci, who is represented through an illuminated manuscript collecting several poetic compositions and printed volumes with autograph dedication to the queen. Among the texts on display is the ode To the Queen of Italy, bearing witness to the relationship between literary production and the representation of monarchical power. The cultural landscape of the period is further expanded through musical materials, including the score of Giovanni Sgambati ’s Symphony in D for Grand Orchestra and Eugenio Pirani’sHymn to Grand Orchestra.

A further section addresses the transformations of taste in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from the transition from eclecticism toArt Deco through the Art Nouveau season. The itinerary also recalls the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement and the spread of the applied arts, with a focus on the serial production of decorative objects inspired by ornamental motifs. Exhibits include embroideries on paper made by students from Kingdom schools and a late 19th-century herbarium containing various alpine flower species. On the occasion of the exhibition, the rooms of Margaret’s Apartment on the second floor of the Royal Palace are exceptionally reopened, documenting the transformations of the spaces in relation to the needs of court ceremonial after the Unification of Italy. The itinerary includes a portrait of the queen by Michele Gordigiani, porcelain purchased from European manufactures and commissions to cabinetmakers. The Sala dei Medaglioni will feature a comparison of Michele Dellera’s furnishings with Vittorio Emanuele III’s cradle, made to a design by Domenico Morelli and from the Royal Palace of Caserta.

The second exhibition, entitled The Face of Women. The Other Face of History, is housed in the Royal Medagliere, reopened after redevelopment work. The project, curated by Elisa Panero with Patrizia Petitti and Daniela Speranza, continues the path started in 2019 with the support of Soroptimist Turin. The exhibition analyzes the representation of female figures through the numismatic collections of the Royal Museums, consisting of about 60,000 pieces including coins, medals and seals, about a third of which depict female subjects.

The itinerary traverses a chronological span from antiquity to the modern age, including figures such as Cleopatra VII, Messalina, Julia Domna, Galla Placidia, Beatrice of Portugal and Catherine of Russia, up to Margaret of Savoy. The display highlights the construction of the female public image through the medallic and monetary tradition. A selected nucleus of materials is on display inside the Royal Medagliere, while a digital tour with insights and references to the collections is available on the Royal Museums website, supplemented by content created by the Savings Museum. The program is part of the Reale Femminile public program, which includes curatorial visits, periodic meetings, workshops and conversation cycles dedicated to the role of women in history and public representation.

The calendar also includes the cycle Three Coins, Three Stories, realized in collaboration with the Savings Museum, and the initiative If Power Had a Face, dedicated to the relationship between female image and power in different historical contexts. A study conference on Margaret of Savoy, organized by academic and cultural institutions in collaboration with the Royal Museums of Turin and other museum and university institutions, is also scheduled from November 12 to 14, 2026.

The Royal Museums of Turin tell the story of Margaret of Savoy with two dossier exhibitions

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