Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

About Victor Emmanuel II of Italy

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (1820–1878) holds a significant, though perhaps under-recognized, place in modern history, ranked #754 in overall historical importance by MIT's Pantheon project. As the King of Sardinia and later the first King of unified Italy, his primary contribution was spearheading the Risorgimento, the complex political and military movement that led to the unification of the disparate Italian states into a single kingdom in 1861. This act fundamentally redrew the map of 19th-century Europe and established the modern nation-state of Italy.

Despite this foundational role in creating a major European power, Victor Emmanuel II suffers from a distinct modern attention gap. He received only 106K annualized Wikipedia views in 2025, resulting in an attention gap ratio of -3x, meaning his online visibility is only about one-third of what his historical importance would predict. To highlight this disconnect, he received fewer pageviews than less historically important figures in our comparison pool, such as Antoninus Pius (#982 importance, 431K views) and Louis Philippe I (#946 importance, 817K views), both fellow politicians.

Furthermore, the trajectory of this limited attention shows a continued decline. His Wikipedia views dropped by 24.5% year-over-year, and his 2025 Momentum, comparing Q1 to Q3, fell by a stark 42%, suggesting that this critical figure from the age of modern state-building is fading from contemporary digital consciousness.