The Modern Era - Piemonte Feel

Between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the Savoy dynasty increased their hold over the region: duke Amedeo VIII defeated the princes of Acaia, and then the Viscontis thus conquering Vercelli. In 1531, the emperor Charles V conceded the county of Asti and the marquisate of Ceva to his sister-in-law Beatrice, wife of Carlo II of Savoy. The war between France and Spain meant that, in this period, Piedmont was often the theatre of military clashes and occupation. Only in 1559 with the treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis was Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy able to obtain control of his possessions. And the territories and social and religious groupings that became part of the new Savoy state in the mid-sixteenth century were by non means uniform. In the cities and valleys, for example, the Catholic majority lived alongside groups of Jews and Protestants; long-established local institutions meant that justice was administered directly, free from any centralised control in Turin; a climate of political instability divided the various regions into pro-Spanish and pro-French camps.
Economic resources also varied from area to area and only with the introduction of new activities were economic contrasts eased. Animal breeding and a “cottage” silk industry emerged and, towards the end of the seventeenth century, thanks to the introduction of the “silk mill”, a primitive industrial economy was born.