1946 Italian Institutional Referendum

To this effect, Monarchists—Seeking to prevent the ascention of a pure republican form of government—pressured King Victor Emanuel III into abdicating in favor of his son King Umberto II, the latter of whom wasn't tied to the rise of Benito Mussolini and his controvercial reign.

And with this abdication, despite the assosiation (if lessened) with Musolini's reigned the Monarchy continued to retain significant support, attaining 46% of all votes counted, mostly from the conservative southern provinces, and losing because of the more industrialized northern provinces.

In fact, the results were so controvercial in the southern provinces that upon the anouncement of the results, Naples (a city in strong support of the Monarchy) saw heightened tensions and incidences of violence.

Here, they raised the flag of the house of Savoy, attacking the headquarters of the republican paper "La Voce", and setting fire to the local communist headquarters.