Marochetti's equestrian statue of Emanuele Filberto of Savoy, is the work which earned him European renown. Although he had been born in Turin, he had been brought to France in childhood, and, because of his background, it seemed at first improbable that he would receive important commissions from his country of origin. His father, Vincenzo Marochetti, had briefly served as secretary to the executive commission of the Subalpine Republic in Piedmont, in 1800-1801, and had then pursued his legal career in the France of the First Empire. In France Vincenzo remained in close contact with one of the commissioners of the Piedmontese republican government, Carlo Botta, who was the subject of a proscription order imposed on him by the members of the Savoy-Carignano dynasty, who returned to power there after 1815. Vittore Emanuele I was succeeded in 1821 by Carlo Felice of Savoy, whose reactionary rule in his Kingdom of Sardinia, earned him the title "Charles the Ferocious", and who was determined to reverse any changes to the constitution introduced under the influence of French revolutionary ideas. He was succeeded, after his death in 1831 by a distant cousin, Carlo Alberto, a conservative but far more liberal figure. Carlo Alberto did, however, nurse major ambitions for his family, which were finally realised, when his son, Vitttore Emanuele II became the first king of a unified Italy.

The statue of his ancestor, Emanuele Filiberto, was Carlo Alberto's idea, and was proposed by him in 1831, the same year that he succeeded to the throne of Sardinia and the Dukedom of Savoy. It would function both as dynastic promotion, and a declaration of peaceful and beneficent intentions, since Emanuele Filiberto was eventually shown symbolically sheathing his sword, on his return to his territories in Savoy and Piedmont, after his cooperation with the Hapsburg armies at the Battle of Saint Quentin (1557), and the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis (1559), had guaranteed their independence from French overlordship. The battle and the treaty are the subjects of the two relief panels on the monument's pedestal as executed, though it was originally proposed that both should represent battles.

Marochetti's biographer, Marco Calderini, claimed that a competition was held for the monument, with entries from Piedmontese sculptors, but an Italian art-historian, L.C. Bollea, who made much more extensive use of the archives, has suggested that Marochetti was the first and only choice. There was, at this time, slender evidence for Marochetti's ability to rise to such a challenge. His group of a Young Girl Playing with a Dog (marble, 1827) had been presented to Carlo Felice, and shortly before receiving the commission for the Emanuele Filiberto, he would be commissioned to produce an under-lifesize marble statue of Vincenzo Maria Mossi di Morano, for Turin's Real Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti, but this would not be completed until much later, and would only be delivered to the Accademia after the sculptor's death. So, in giving the commission to Marochetti, Carlo Alberto was, as the sculptor himself later acknowledged, taking a great risk ,and in so doing giving a considerable boost to his self-esteem.

The earliest proposal for the monument was of a much more ambitious nature, including the statue and two reliefs, but also fountains with allegorical figures personifying the different regions governed by Emanuele Filiberto and his descendants, represented by their rivers. A sketch model, which showed the disposition of the fountains, though in a very dilapidated state, still existed in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Turin in 1933, but no longer exists. An early sketch for the statue itself, showing Emanuele Filiberto on a rearing horse, waving his sword in the air, was presented but not approved by Carlo Alberto. This still exists, and is also in the Galleria d'Arte Moderna. Marochetti had received at this same time prodigious and demanding commissions from the French government, which may be the reason why this project hung fire until 1836. It was then revived, but in the more limited form in which it was finally realised.

The finalisation of the monument's overall form was delayed by Marochetti's having to take charge of the pedestal design himself. A design by a Piedmontese architect, Brunati, not having met with his approval. The casting of all the bronze sections of the monument, comprising the equestrian group, the relief panels, two armorial cartouches and a decorative facing to the bed-moulds at top and bottom of the pedestal, was entrusted to the Parisian foundry of Soyer and Ingé. The statue, cast in bronze was exhibited temporarily in the Cour Carré of the Louvre to coincide with the annual Paris Salon in 1838, after which it was transported to Italy. It was inaugurated in Turin on 4 November 1838. Following the inauguration, Carlo Alberto presented the founder, Soyer, with a gold medal, and conferred a Sardinian barony on Marochetti.