The Savoy family repeatedly violated – without warning – the XIII transitional and final provision of the Constitution, which at the time prohibited members of the former royal house from setting foot on Italian soil.
Former ski champion Gustav Thoeni revealed this in his new book “A Trail in the White,” and Emanuele Filiberto, son of Vittorio Emanuele and Marina Doria, confirmed it in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
The ban was finally lifted in 2002, but the royals have returned anonymously to the country from which they were exiled after the end of World War II. Their favorite destinations? Piedmont, Valle d'Aosta, and Sardinia.
" There were many border crossings," Emanuele Filiberto admits. "I myself entered Italy several times with my father. To the Aosta Valley to see Sarre Castle, to Turin for lunch, to Sardinia. Short trips. We went to restaurants."
On the island, in particular, "we went several times. By boat. Whenever we could get some fresh air in Italy, we did so," he adds.
In theory, if the police had caught them during these raids, they should have taken them into custody and escorted them across the border. Instead, Emanuele Filiberto recalls, "the Carabinieri saluted us." But, concludes the prince, now a well-known TV personality, "before we broke the law, they had violated our rights. The European Court recognized this," so "it was normal to make these deviations."
(Unioneonline)
