The Italian royal family wants to recover its treasure from 6,700 precious stones kept at the Bank of Italy

The Italian royal family wants to recover its treasure from 6,700 precious stones kept at the Bank of Italy

This Tuesday, January 25, 2022, the royal family of Savoie, which reigned over Italy until 1946, seated at the table with the Bank of Italy, in order to start negotiations in order to recover thefamily treasure.If no arrangement succeeds, the former royal family intends to bring legal action.The family wishes to recover jewelry, precious stones and other confiscated treasures when the monarchy was abolished.

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A treasure entrusted to the Bank of Italy for over 75 years

The Italian newspaper Corriere della will reveal that Me Sergio Orlandi, lawyer for the Royal Savoy family, participates this Tuesday in the first mediation meeting with representatives of the Bank of Italy, the Prime Minister and the Ministry of the Economy.The former family having reigned From 1861 to 1946 on the Kingdom of Italy wishes to recover 6732 precious stones and 2000 pearls, different sizes and mounted on different rooms such as diagrams, necklaces, earrings or spindles.

In June 1946, the Italians decided, by referendum, to abolish the monarchy.In the days following this decision, the last king, Humbert II, was asked to bring the jewels of the Italian crown into a trunk.The trunk has been well kept since then, in a cellar of the Palais Koch, the headquarters of the Banque d'Italie, located at number 91 of the Nazionale in Rome.This trunk is ultra-protected, sealed by 11 different seals.Ironically, Humbert II gives jewelry to Luigi Einaudi, governor of the Bank of Italy, who will be the future president of the Italian Republic.

Three -quarters of a century later, no one knows why no one has ever wondered to who belongs to these jewelry.At the time, the trunk was only considered to be "entrusted" to the bank and was to be "made available to whom by law".This vague mention in the minutes of the time does not make it possible to determine who are the owners of the jewelry.There is also a debate between what the transitional constitution said, concerning the goods confiscated to the royal family, since here we are not talking about real confiscation but of goods entrusted.

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The descendants of King Humbert II begin mediation with the Bank of Italy

La famille royale italienne veut récupérer son trésor de 6700 pierres précieuses gardé à la Banque d’Italie

The descendants of King Humbert II, including his two daughters, his son, and his grandchildren, never asked for the trunk, for fear of compromising their relations with the Italian State.Recall that the family was forced to exile until 2003.However, several of these jewels were personal property, gifts, bought with their own money and not jewelry obtained by money assigned to the exercise of the king's functions.

"The current Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, when he was governor of the Bank of Italy, on the occasion of our conversation, had expressed his desire to examine the question," explains Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie, only sonof Prince Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, himself the only son of King Humbert II.Now that Draghi is in power, the Italian royal family hopes that the former governor of the Bank of Italy can remember his point of view that he had at the time on the issue.

Prince Emmanuel-Philibert, who is convinced that the heirs of King Humbert II must be considered as "those who are right", adds that after having recovered the jewelry, they would then be exposed to the public ".One of the significant arguments of history is that currently, and for 75 years, these jewels have been hidden in a trunk that no one can enjoy it.An attempt to exhibit them during the Turin Olympic Games had failed.

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The seals were broken, in 1976, at the request of a prosecutor of Rome who wanted to make an inventory and verify that no one was missing.Information then contradicts, because Corriere della will have published a correction received From Gianni Bulgari after the publication of their article.According to the manager of the Bulgari house it was in the 1960s that he was requisitioned to assess jewelry and not in 1976.The estimate was 2 billion lire, which would correspond to 18 million euros, according to the revaluation of the Istat.

"No evaluation or cataloging was done, but the impression that I had of this visit was that of objects of quality and surprisingly modest value.There were no colored stones, emeralds, rubies, sapphires or even diamonds of any value whatsoever.I am not aware that Bulgari did an assessment in 1976.I am unable to give figures by heart Maos I can confirm that their current value could not exceed a maximum of a few million euros, "wrote Gianni Bulgari in a right of response sent to the newspaper last November.

However, according to other experts, the value could be 10 or 15 times higher.Corriere della will be assessed the Treasury at 300 million euros, if we are based on recent sales at Sotheby's other former diademes of the royal family, whose prices took off and which were significantly superior to the prices of thesale.

Prince Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie, 84, and her sisters, Princess Maria Pia, 87, Princess Maria Gabriella, 81, and Princess Marie-Béatrice, 78, hope to find an arrangement."If at the end of mediation the parties do not reach a solution, the Savoy family will sue the state with the intention of recovering the jewelry," wrote.The family had indicated its formal intention to recover their precious stones, by sending a letter to the Bank of Italy, the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Economy, in November 2021.In twenty-four hours, they received a clear response From the bank, explaining: "The return cannot be accepted, given the responsibilities of the depositary".Disstated by the response, the family organizes mediation today around the mediator Giovanni de Luca.

Tous les articles surbijou, bijoux, bijoux de famille, Emmanuel-Philibert de Savoie, joyaux, trésor, Victor-Emmanuel de Savoie
Nicolas Fontaine

Rédacteur en chef

Nicolas Fontaine has been an independent web editor since 2014.After being copywriter and author for many Belgian and French brands and media, he specialized in the news of the royalty.Nicolas is now editor -in -chief of royal stories.Nicolas@Histoiresroyales.Fr