The Turrettini family’s influence is evident wherever you look in Geneva. View over the Quai Turrettini, circa 1940.
The Turrettini family’s influence is evident wherever you look in Geneva. View over the Quai Turrettini, circa 1940. Bibliothèque de Genève

Geneva’s Italian side

The rise of Geneva, the home of Calvinism, owed much to the Turrettini family. Arriving there from Tuscany in the 16th century with ready money and access to an international network, they played no small part in buoying the city’s economy.

Christophe Vuilleumier

Christophe Vuilleumier

Christophe Vuilleumier is a historian and board member of the Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Geschichte (Swiss Historical Society). He has published a number of articles on 17th and 20th century Swiss history.

The Turrettinis, originally natives of Lucca in Tuscany, moved to Geneva four centuries ago and have been one of the most influential families in the city ever since. Their wealth and international trading network were a boon for the 16th century stronghold of Calvinism. Unsurprisingly, the family itself also flourished. Francesco Turrettini (1547-1628), a Protestant, was forced to flee Lucca and the Inquisition in 1574. He made his way to Geneva via Lyon and several other cities in Germany, Belgium and Switzerland, finally deciding to settle there permanently in 1592. The Italian silk merchant continued to run his business from this new base, amassing a considerable fortune in just a few years. By 1628 Turrettini had even became a member of the Council of Two Hundred, Geneva’s supreme legislative authority at the time. In other words, he played a prominent role in the city’s political life, a sign that he was now fully integrated in his adopted home town. His son Jean had the imposing Château des Bois built just outside Geneva in 1631. From that point on, the manor house formed the centre of the Turrettin seigneury, an area in which the family held the power to administer high, middle and low justice until 1794.
The Château des Bois, owned by the Turrettini family. 1877 lithograph.
The Château des Bois, owned by the Turrettini family. 1877 lithograph. Bibliothèque de Genève
Bankers, notaries, textile merchants, theologians, scientists, statesmen – members of each successive generation of the Turrettini family rose to the highest offices in the Republic of Geneva, gaining respect, prestige and riches in the process. And then, at the beginning of the 18th century, Françoise Turrettini entered the scene. The cousin of renowned theologian Jean-Alphonse Turrettini (1671-1737), known throughout Europe for his enlightened brand of Protestantism, she quickly became one of the most influential women in Geneva. In 1715, at the age of 22, Françoise Turrettini married David Vasserot (1690-1727), a prosperous Dutch banker who had settled in Geneva. The scion of a rich and influential Huguenot family, Vasserot acquired a piece of land not far from the city in 1719. At that time, the estate, known as the Domaine de la Bâtie-Beauregard, fell under the rule of the Kingdom of France. The original de la Bâtie castle, built in 1278, had passed into the ownership of the House of Savoy in 1353 and been turned into a castellany. A little under 200 years later, the Savoyards were forced to yield the area to advancing Bernese troops, who elevated it to the status of a barony. Following several changes of ownership, the estate finally became part of French territory at the beginning of the 17th century, before passing into the hands of the Turrettini family just over a century later. As David Vasserot spent much of his time away on business, his wife Françoise became the de facto owner and lady of the manor, whose lands stretched from the villages of Collex and Bossy to the hamlet of Bellevue and covered a large area outside the gates of the city.
Portrait of Baroness Françoise Turrettini, painted by Nicolas de Largillière, 1721.
Portrait of Baroness Françoise Turrettini, painted by Nicolas de Largillière, 1721. Wikimédia / MAH Geneva
In 1724, David Vasserot also purchased the fief of Vincy in the Gilly district of the canton of Vaud, where the couple built another castle. When the banker passed away three years later, Baroness Françoise Turrettini became the undisputed mistress of all she surveyed. The widow devoted herself to the upkeep of the estate, throwing herself into the task with determination and tenacity, and did not shy away from standing up to powerful men if need be. Men like architect David Jeanrenaud, who thought he could reroute a path without first seeking permission from Françoise Turrettini. But he had seriously misjudged the Baroness! In 1747, Françoise Turrettini married for a second time. Her new husband was Baron Auguste Maurice de Donop, Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of Hesse-Kassel and knight of the Swedish Royal Order of the Seraphim. He knew Geneva well thanks to the religious links between the city and the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, which had been Calvinist since the end of the 16th century. Auguste Maurice de Donop and Prince Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel had received a very warm welcome from Geneva’s clergymen in 1735, for which the two Germans were especially grateful to Jean-Alphonse Turrettini, the cousin of the Baroness. Françoise Turrettini’s subsequent marriage to the German nobleman was thus more of a political than an emotional alliance: it was intended to establish even closer ties between Geneva and Hesse-Kassel.
The new husband: Baron Auguste Maurice de Donop, painted in the studio of Louis Tocqué, circa 1748.
The new husband: Baron Auguste Maurice de Donop, painted in the studio of Louis Tocqué, circa 1748. MAH Museum of Art and History, Geneva
Françoise Turrettini was henceforth also known as ‘Madame la Générale de Donop’. And this name somehow suited her, for she did not mellow with age. Having been accustomed to doing things all her own way for decades, the Baroness had no intention of suddenly changing. Not even for a friend of the family, who was famous throughout Europe and also happened to enjoy a close relationship with her son Horace-Jean Vasserot: Voltaire. For eight whole years, from 1760 to 1768, Françoise Turrettini argued with the poet over the delicate subject of money. The Baroness had gifted Voltaire a piece of land near Collex, but he refused to pay the taxes on it. Unfortunately, we do not know how the disagreement was resolved. But it is safe to assume that ‘Madame la Générale de Donop’ stood her ground. The Baroness died in 1771 at the age of 78. She had run a vast estate for more than 50 years and been welcomed at Europe’s royal courts. Françoise Turrettini played as prominent a role in Geneva’s development as her male relations and, like other members of this exalted family, left her mark on the city associated with Calvin.

Published on: 26.11.2024

URL: https://blog.nationalmuseum.ch/en/2024/11/genevas-italian-side/

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