Editing Charles Albert of Sardinia (section)

=== Reforms and cultural initiatives ===
[[File:Palazzo madama torino, piano nobile 08.JPG|thumb|A room in the [[Turin City Museum of Ancient Art]] in the Palazzo Madama, founded by Charles Albert in 1832, as the ''Pinacoteca Regia e della Galleria Reale'']]
[[File:Carlo Alberto 1833.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Charles Albert in 1833]]
Notwithstanding this conservatism, Charles Albert established a Council of State of 14 members who were to investigate the laws and make some moves to modernize the country. He abrogated the special exemptions on import duty for members of the royal family and royal officials, abolished torture, prohibited the mutilation of the corpses of executed criminals and the confiscation of the property of criminals. He also gave notable attention to culture. In 1832, he established the ''Pinacoteca Regia e della Galleria Reale'' in the [[Palazzo Madama, Turin|Palazzo Madama]] (now the [[Turin City Museum of Ancient Art]]) and the library of the [[Royal Palace of Turin|Palazzo Reale]], he built several monuments and palaces, refounded the Academy of Art as the [[Accademia Albertina]] in 1833 and established the "Royal Foundation for the Study of the History of the Fatherland", which would become the model for all the similar foundations for historical studies established in the nineteenth century, in the same year.<ref>{{harvnb|Bertoldi|pp=181–182}}</ref>

Charles Albert accompanied these measures with an economic policy of liberalization of commerce. In 1834, the tax on grain was reduced and the next year, the export of [[raw silk]] was made legal. Duties on the import of raw materials (coal, metals, textiles) were subsequently reduced and the acquisition of industrial machinery from abroad was supported. Despite having impinged on some minor sources of state income, the balance of the kingdom was positive from 1835, and it was possible to entertain ambitions for the improvement of agriculture, roads, railroads, and ports.<ref name =Dizionario-Biografico-Treccani>{{cite web|title=Carlo Alberto re di Sardegna in Dizionario Biografico Treccani|url=http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/carlo-alberto-re-di-sardegna_(Dizionario-Biografico)/|access-date=8 January 2016}}</ref>

Charles Albert also reformed the army, reformed the law codes, instituted a [[Court of cassation]], and eliminated feudalism in Sardinia, in 1838. He enabled the opening of institutes of credit, reformed the public agencies and the state, and reduced the control of the religious hierarchy somewhat. The royal court was full of clerics—at least fifty of them—and the court was sumptuous for such a small kingdom. There were a great number of cooks, butlers, waiters, carpenters, squires, stallers, pages, footmen, masters of ceremonies, etc.<ref>{{harvnb|Bertoldi|p=182}}</ref><ref name =Piccola-Treccani>"Carlo Alberto re di Sardegna" in ''La Piccola Treccani'', Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani, Milano, 1995, Vol. II.</ref>