I'm not saying that Vittorio Emanuele was a saint but any king has positives and negatives,he might have fetal mistakes and deserved exile or even excution but what about king Umberto, his son and grandson?why were they exiled and were not allowed to put a foot on italian land till recently without at least a settlement as Marengo said?Was Mussolini family exiled?!!!!! .I read that his granddaughter was a parliament member.If the Savoys deserved exile,Mussolini family should have been exiled as well.
Another one thing,I find it ridiculous to not allowing King Umberto "last king of italy" to be buried in italy.
I never knew of Vittorio Emanuele doing anything positive in his life, or at least the press never reported of him doing anything positive.
On these days I'm listening to a program aired by an independent radio, that you can listen to only by the sat dish outside the Milan area, reporting on Vittorio Emanuele involved in traffic in arm, with major prelates having covered his illegal activities, which several Italian magistrate's courts are investigating on. BTW he's not affiliate with the mafia, just a professional man!
He shouldn't have come back to Italy, if he wanted to still carry on his activities in a neighbouring country.
However IMO the man isn't a genius, and most of this kind of work must be his manipulative wife's: I saw him interviewed by an Italian tv, where his answer to the interviewer's questions were prompted in French by his wife.
His son is more jovial and an ingenuous guy, that has no fear to mix up with ordinary people. IMO he think people love him, because he's a Prince Charming, but he must be a kind hearted guy despite his parents.
I agree that they are not responsible of what King V. Emanuele III did, but you surently do not know what the situation was back then.
Mussolini was arrested by the King, who signed an armistice with the Allied. Later on Mussolini was freed by the Nazis, and went up North where he established the Republic of Salò, so Italy was split into two countries once again : the Republic in the North, and the Kingdom of the South. This was the start of the civil war from Rome up with the Partisans fighting the Fascist and the Nazis. Perhaps you saw films like "Open City" (Roma città aperta) or "Paisà" by Rossellini, "La Ciociara" by De Sica starring Sofia Loren ( who also won the Oscar) and Jean Paul Belmondo. If you didn't, please do, so you will get an idea of what was happening in Italy back then.
According to journalist and historian Indro Montanelli, most of member of the newly established Constituent Assembly didn't really want to get rid of the monarchy ( a part from the Republicans, of course). Even the leader of the Communist Party agreed that little Vittorio Emanuele was educated by eminent democratic tutors, so that he could be the next King without suffering from the influence of the Savoia family. But both the Americans and the Vatican strongly opposed this project. Apparently the Vatican wanted to have their revenge for the Savoia family who had snatched the Papal state, so they urged the Catholic voters to choose the Republic.
The rest is history. Sorry for the long post. Hope it wasn't too boring
ETA: Mussolini was caught executed by the Partisan while he was fleeing to Switzerland with his mistress. She was shot too.
His youngest son married Sofia Loren's younger sister. So their elder daughter Alessandra is currently a member of the Italian parliament, but she is best know for being Sofia's niece.
