Rosa Vercellana, 1st Countess of Mirafiori and Fontanafredda, commonly known as 'Rosina' and, in Piedmontese, as La Bela Rosin, was the mistress and later wife of Victor Emmanuel II, King of Italy. Despite this, the morganatic status of her marriage meant that she was never recognized as Queen of Italy.
Rosa Teresa Vercellana, the ‘Bela Rosina’
Vercellana's mausoleum in Turin.
Victor Emmanuel II was King of Sardinia from 23 March 1849 until 17 March 1861, when he assumed the title of King of Italy and became the first king of an independent, united Italy since the 6th century, a title he held until his death in 1878. Borrowing from the old Latin title Pater Patriae of the Roman emperors, the Italians gave him the epithet of Father of the Fatherland.
Victor Emmanuel, c. 1861
Victor Emmanuel II in 1849
Portrait of Victor Emmanuel, with a battle in the background (1848)
Maria Theresa of Austria mother of Victor Emmanuel II