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Case file s292 · Royalty · 1983
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1983
Died
18 March 1983 (Umberto II); 3 February 2024 (Vittorio Emanuele)
Place
Geneva, Switzerland
Field
Royalty (Italy, Savoy) · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Italian civil law; Albertine Statute (1848); Italian Constitution, transitional provision XIII · Civil law
Historical event
1946 Italian referendum ending the monarchy
RoyaltyCrowns and successionSeized by the statePostwarEuropeSwitzerland
AI illustration: A sealed case of royal jewels on a shelf in a Bank of Italy vault, Rome
Illustration made with AI for celebrity.estate.

Italy's crown jewels have sat in a Bank of Italy vault since 1946, and a Rome court ruled in 2025 they belong to the state

Umberto II reigned for 34 days in 1946 before Italians voted for a republic. On 5 June 1946 his minister deposited the crown jewels, thousands of diamonds and pearls, at the Bank of Italy in Rome, to be held for "whoever has the right"†. The constitution exiled the male Savoy heirs and confiscated their property in Italy; the exile was lifted in 2002. Umberto's son Vittorio Emanuele shot at a group on the island of Cavallo in 1978; a German student, Dirk Hamer, died of his wounds. A Paris court acquitted him of homicide in 1991 and convicted him of a weapons offence. In February 2022 Umberto's heirs sued the Italian state and the Bank of Italy for the jewels, valued at about €300 million. In May 2025 the Rome civil court ruled they were endowment jewels of the crown and belonged to the state. The family's lawyer said they would go to the European Court of Human Rights. Vittorio Emanuele died in 2024.

What the law took from it

Property given to a ruler for an office belongs to the office, not the family, once the office ends.

Sources
  1. wantedinrome.comPress
  2. en.ilsole24ore.comPress
  3. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Italy's crown jewels have sat in a Bank of Italy vault since 1946, and a Rome court ruled in 2025 they belong to the state,” story s292, https://www.celebrity.estate/italys-crown-jewels-have-sat-in-1983, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

RoyaltyCrowns and successionSeized by the statePostwarEuropeCivil lawSwitzerland