The Court

In the twenty-two years of her reign as consort of Umberto I, Margherita made a strong impression on the cultural life of the country. The couple immediately committed themselves to the difficult task of popularising the monarchy: they did this not only through their numerous trips around Italy but also by attending and supporting commemorations and the laying of monuments to Vittorio Emanuele II, a popular and much-loved figure. Their different personalities created a robust synergy: Umberto, alongside his military, political and ceremonial functions, provided an image of himself as a good and courageous person, for the timeliness of his presence and the relief he provided during serious calamities, and Margherita took on the task of Italy’s first woman with enthusiasm. It was a matter of exhibiting a court that was no longer purely military as it had been under Vittorio Emanuele II, but charming and elegant, to create consensus and bring aristocrats and bourgeoisie from all over Italy as well as the common people closer to the new kingdom. Margherita loved to surround herself with cultured people, so much so that she wanted good-looking but above all cultured women around her as ladies-in-waiting; at the Quirinale, Wednesday was the day of the week dedicated to receptions and dancing, while on Thursdays artistic-literary meetings were held, attended by the most prominent exponents of Roman and Italian culture: the famous “Queen’s Thursdays”.
Culture was not only exhibited, but represented a real way of being for the Queen: it was her habit to spend a few hours every morning in the private library, where she personally arranged and rearranged the volumes; the library represented a place of refuge, her own space within the “gilded cage” of the Quirinale, as she herself used to call it, a place to reflect, study and discuss. For this purpose, when Margherita moved to Rome, she had the famous bookcase by Pietro Piffetti, one of the greatest cabinet-makers of his time, brought from the Villa della Regina in Turin. As well as in the furniture of the Library, Margherita’s taste also transpires in the book bindings: the use of the monogram with the daisy flower in symbolic reference to her name and of the monogram with the Savoy arms declined in several variants are recurring elements and translated into various styles.