The
Kingdom of Sardinia was a state in Europe from the early 14th until the mid-19th century. It was the
predecessor state of today's
Italy. A small state with weak institutions when it was acquired by the
Duke of Savoy in 1720, the Savoyards united their insular and continental domains and built Sardinia—often called
Piedmont-Sardinia in this period—into one of the
great powers by the time of the
Crimean War (1853–56). Its final capital was
Turin, the centre of Savoyard power since the
Middle Ages.