Rosa Vercellana, 1st Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda (11 June 1833 – 26 December 1885), commonly known as 'Rosina' and, in

Piedmontese Piedmontese ( ; autonym: or ; ) is a language spoken by some 2,000,000 people mostly in Piedmont, a region of Northwest Italy. Although considered by most linguists a separate language, in Italy it is often mistakenly regarded as an Italian ...

, as La Bela Rosin, was the mistress and later wife of Victor Emmanuel II,

King of Italy King is a royal title given to a male monarch. A king is an absolute monarch if he holds unrestricted governmental power or exercises full sovereignty over a nation. Conversely, he is a constitutional monarch if his power is restrained by ...

. Despite this, the

morganatic Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spous ...

status of her marriage meant that she was never recognized as Queen of Italy.

Life

She was born in

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

, the youngest child of Giovanni Battista Vercellana (c. 1807–?) and his wife, Maria Teresa Griglio (c. 1811-?). Four days later she was baptised as Maria Rosa Teresa Aloisia.‘Rosa Vercellana, the “Bela Rosin”’
''La Veneria Reale'' (Consorzio di Valorizzazione Culturale “La Venaria Reale”).Roberto Gervaso, ''La Bella Rosina, amore e ragion di stato in Casa Savoia'' (Milan: Bompiani 1991). Her father, from Moncalvo in the

Province of Asti The province of Asti (; Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ''provincia d'Ast'') is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti. To the northwest it borders on the Metropolitan City of Turin; ...

, had been a standard bearer in the Napoleonic Imperial Guard. After the fall of Napoleon, he was appointed an Officer in the King's Guards and commanded the Royal Garrison in the hunting estate of Racconigi by 1847. There, while living with her family, the fourteen-year-old Rosa met Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel. Vercellana became his mistress and later had two children by him. Their affair caused a great scandal in 1849 when Victor Emanuel was crowned

King of Sardinia Sardinia is traditionally known to have been initially ruled by the Nuragic civilization, which was followed by Greek colonization, conquest by the Carthagians, Carthaginians, and occupied by the Ancient Rome, Romans for around a thousand years, ...

. When his Queen died in 1855, the King named Rosa Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda by royal decree in 1858. The King also recognized their two children and assigned them the surname Guerrieri.^, In 1860, Victor Emmanuel established her in a new residence in a restored castle of La Mandria, near Venaria. In 1864, the capital of Italy was moved from

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and Vercellana established herself there in the villa La Pietraia. Five years later the king fell gravely ill at San Rossore, the royal estate near

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

. Fearing death, on 18 October 1869, he hurriedly married his mistress, in a purely religious ceremony which conferred no civil rights upon his wife. Telegrams to Rome followed, seeking papal benediction.‘Parco fluviale del Po tratto torinese: Punti di Interesse’
Parks.it (Rome: Federazione Italiana Parchi e Riserve Natural). A

civil ceremony A civil, or registrar, ceremony is a non-religious legal marriage ceremony performed by a government official or functionary. In the United Kingdom, this person is typically called a registrar. In the United States, civil ceremonies may be performe ...

was held in Rome eight years later in 1877. This was a

morganatic marriage Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...

, so she was never made queen and her children had no rights of succession to the throne. Victor Emanuel died two months after the ceremony. Rosa Vercellana survived him by eight years, dying on 26 December 1885.

The mausoleum

As the Savoy family refused to allow Vercellana to be buried next to her husband in the Pantheon, her children had a mausoleum built for her in a similar form (if on a smaller scale) in

, next to the road to the Castello di Mirafiori. The circular, copper-domed, neoclassical monument, surmounted by a latin cross and surrounded by a large park, was designed by

Angelo Dimezzi Angelo is an Italian masculine given name and surname meaning "angel", or "messenger". People People with the given name * Angelo Abenante (1927–2024), Italian trade unionist and politician * Angelo Accardi, Italian visual artist * Angelo Ac ...

and completed in 1888.‘Mausoleo della Bela Rosin’
''Piemontefeel'' (Regione Piemonte, 2005). In 1970 it was purchased by the Turin city council from a descendant of Rosa Vercellana for the sum of 132 million lire. The park was opened to the public two years later but almost immediately the mausoleum was broken into and the remains of Vercellana and her descendants were mutilated by people searching for jewels. Further acts of vandalism took place over subsequent years and the structure fell into a state of dereliction. Major restoration work was carried out at the start of the twenty-first century and the park was re-opened to the public in 2005.

Issue

Victor Emmanuel II with morganatic wife and their children

Victor Emmanuel and Rosa Vercellana's children were: * Vittoria Guerrieri (2 December 1848 – 1905)

William Addams Reitwiesner William Addams Reitwiesner (March 8, 1954 – November 12, 2010) was an American genealogist who traced the ancestry of United States political figures, European royalty and celebrities. Biography Reitwiesner was born on March 8, 1954, in Havr ...

‘The Descendants of Donna Vittoria Guerrieri (1848-1905)’
''wargs.com'' (William Addams Reitwiesner Genealogical Services)Davide Shamà

, ''Genealogie delle famiglie nobile italiani''. married Marchese Giacomo Spinola; had issue * Emanuele Alberto Guerrieri (16 March 1851 – 23 December 1894), Count of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda married Bianca Enrichetta de Laderdel, daughter of Enrico de Laderdel, Count of Montecerboli and Annicie Belfort d'Antry, granddaughter of Federigo De Larderel, great-granddaughter of François Jacques de Larderel.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vercellana, Rosa 1833 births 1885 deaths People from Nice 19th-century Italian people 19th-century Italian women Mistresses of Italian royalty Morganatic spouses Victor Emmanuel II Royal reburials