Rosa Vercellana commonly known as ‘Rosina’ and, in Piedmontese, as La Bela Rosin, was the mistress

Mistress (lover)

A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...

 and later wife of Victor Emmanuel II

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Victor Emanuel II was king of Sardinia from 1849 and, on 17 March 1861, he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878...

, King of Italy. She was made Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda

Fontanafredda

Fontanafredda is an Italian comune of about 11,000 inhabitants in Province of Pordenone, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The town hall is located in the frazione of Vigonovo....

, but never Queen of Italy.

Life

She was born in Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia

Kingdom of Sardinia

The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

, the youngest child of Giovanni Battista Vercellana and his wife Teresa Griglio. Four days later she was baptised as Maria Rosa Teresa Aloisia. 

Her father, from Moncalvo

Moncalvo

Moncalvo is a city and comune in the Province of Asti in the Italian region Piedmont, located about 45 km east of Turin and about 15 km northeast of Asti on the national road SS 547 which links Asti to Casale Monferrato and Vercelli...

 in the Province of Asti

Province of Asti

The Province of Asti is a province in the Piedmont region of northern Italy. Its capital is the city of Asti. To the north west it borders on the province of Turin; to the south west it borders on the province of Cuneo. To the east it borders on the province of Alessandria, while in the south it...

, 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

Castle of Racconigi

The Royal Castle of Racconigi is a palace and landscape park in Racconigi, province of Cuneo, Italy. It was the official residence of the Carignano line of the House of Savoy, and is one of the Residences of the Royal House of Savoy included by UNESCO in the World Heritage Sites list.-History:The...

 by 1847. There, while living with her family, the fourteen year old Rosa met Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Victor Emanuel II was king of Sardinia from 1849 and, on 17 March 1861, he assumed the title King of Italy to become the first king of a united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878...

.

She became his mistress

Mistress (lover)

A mistress is a long-term female lover and companion who is not married to her partner; the term is used especially when her partner is married. The relationship generally is stable and at least semi-permanent; however, the couple does not live together openly. Also the relationship is usually,...

 and later had two children by him.

Their affair caused a great scandal in 1849 when Victor Emanuel was crowned King of Sardinia. When his Queen died in 1855, the King named Rosa Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda

Fontanafredda

Fontanafredda is an Italian comune of about 11,000 inhabitants in Province of Pordenone, in Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. The town hall is located in the frazione of Vigonovo....

 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

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

 to Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

 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

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa...

. Fearing death, on October 18, 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., 

A civil ceremony was held in Rome eight years later in 1877. This was a morganatic marriage

Morganatic marriage

In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...

, 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 her to be buried next to her husband in the Pantheon

Pantheon, Rome

The Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...

, her children had a mausoleum built for her in a similar form (if on a smaller scale) in Turin

Turin

Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...

, next to the road to the Castello di Mirafiori. The circular, copper-domed, neoclassical

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

 monument, surmounted by a latin cross and surrounded by a large park, was designed by Angelo Dimezzi and completed in 1888.^, 

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 and Rosa Vercellana's children were:

• Vittoria Guerrieri (2 December 1848-1905)^, 
• Emanuele Alberto Guerrieri (16 March 1851-23 December 1894), Count of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda