Reproductions of sacredness in the Savoy dukedom (16th-17th century)

In the modern Age, various cults connected to the dynastic identity emerged in the Savoy dukedom. The Holy Shroud (the relic through which the Savoy family legitimised its power), celebrated as a unique object, was supposed to have been disseminated to increase the prestige of the dynasty. To satisfy this requirement, the court developed a system of copies that had touched the original and distributed in the “Society of the princes”. Even the worship of the Virgin Mary assumed a strong dynastic connotation, as reflected in the ducal promotion of important Marian shrines. Among these, emerged those with significant analogies with the Santa Casa of Loreto (replicated in several religious sites of Piedmont) or with the Sacro Monte of Varallo (prototype of Sacri Monti in the Pre-Alps).