The Bourbons of France in Gorizia. Memories and images of exile. The exhibition in the Coronini Cronberg Palace of Gorizia – Carlo Franza’s blog

A fallen king, a noble existence marked by exile, a “foreign” city that became a refuge and silent theater of a last royal court. A dip in the historical events related to Charles X and its descendants, but also on the deeply human side of the Real of France, in their personalities, family relationships and relationships with Gorizia.
This is the heart of the new exhibition of the Palazzo Coronini Cronb FoundationErg, “The Bourbons of France in Gorizia. Memories and images of exile”, Set up in the stables of the building and open to the public from Thursday 29 May 2025 until Sunday 25 January 2026.

To sign the cuisine of the exhibition is Cristina Bragaglia, who has been able to transform objects, images and documents into a story capable of returning all the complexity – historical and emotional – of a real family in exile. The exhibition is created thanks to the contribution of the Autonomous Region Friuli Venezia Giulia and the Cassa di Risparmio di Gorizia Foundation, with the collaboration of the State Archive of Gorizia, the Municipality of Gorizia, the Goriški Muzej, the Frančiškanski Samostan Kostanjevica, of Italy Nostra – Gorizia, of Borc San Roc and of the Fuselliamo Association.

Prestigious exhibition in the year of the European capital of culture. In 2025, the year in which Gorizia and Nova Gorica are the European capital of culture, the Palazzo Coronini Cronberg Foundation wanted to organize an exhibition dedicated to a fascinating and unique historical period, which brought fame and prestige to the city Gorizia: the presence for almost a decade, in the first half of the nineteenth century, of the Court of the Bourbon of France in exile and looking for peace. A presence that marked Gorizia in depth, transforming it into a destination of pilgrimages, aristocratic salons and cultural exchanges.

A journey between history and European identity. The exhibition is also an invitation to reflect on the fragility of power, on the European identity built through its mobile borders and the role of Gorizia as a crossroads of cultures, destinies and shared stories. A unique opportunity for Discovering a little known but fundamental chapter of the city’s past, enriched by material testimonies and a story curated with historical rigor and narrative empathy.
The exhibition is not limited to reconstructing the historical-political events linked to Charles X and its descendants, but also focuses on the human side of the royalists of France, exploring their personalities, their family relationships and their relationship with the Isontine city. There are also unpublished details on the daily life of the court in Gorizia, their new habits considerably reduced compared to the standards they were accustomed to, their leisures and their concerns, thus allowing to trace the profile of the new, fragile but authentic, life dimension found by the Bourbons in the Central European city. For the first time, the Bourbon souvenirs collected by Count Guglielmo Coronini Cronberg are presented, including prints, paintings, objects and real relics. Unpublished documents from the Coronini Archive are also exhibited, which offer new information on the relations between the French Real and the Gorizian nobility. To these are added some precious objects from private collections.
Particular attention is also paid to the places where the Bourbons lived during their exile, offering an immersion in the daily life of the court, allowing you to imagine the evenings at Palazzo Stressoldo during which the Bourbons received the Gorizian nobility. Finally, there is a focus on the way Gorizia was perceived by some illustrious French travelers of the time who, in their reports, offer discordant points of view on the city and its inhabitants.

The path of the exhibition. The exhibition is divided into three rooms, through a story marked by images, objects and documents that intends to reconstruct the events of the real of France who lived in Gorizia and their link with the city. In the years of exile, in fact, a vast production of images and furnishings with evident propaganda purposes developed: some of these Bourbon souvenirs, collected by Count Guglielmo himself, are now kept in the Coronini Cronberg collections and are supported in the exposure by works and testimonies from public and private collections.
The first room is dedicated to Carlo X -from youth to the Court of Versailles to the exile that saw him arrive in Gorizia together with the family -, to his son Luigi Antonio Duca d’Angoulême and his daughter -in -law Maria Teresa Carlotta, daughter of Louis XVI and Maria Antonietta. In the second room the events of the Dukes of Berry (Carlo Ferdinando d’Artois, second son of Carlo X, and Maria Carolina of Bourbon of the two Sicilies) and their firstborn Luisa d’Artois are retraced. Finally, in the third, the story of the life of Enrico Duca of Bordeaux and count of Chambord and the living room of the Bourbons in Gorizia unfolds.

Carlo Franza