ABSTRACT
Until the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into a considerable number of small states. Lombardy and Venetia formed part of the Austrian Empire. The island of Sardinia, and the mainland province of Piedmont, constituted the kingdom of Sardinia. To the south and south-east of Piedmont were the 'northern duchies', Tuscany, Parma and Modena. For practical purposes, the 'northern duchies' were dependent on Austrian support, although in 1848 Tuscany had taken a strongly anti-Austrian stand. For a time Lucca had also been a separate state, but it was incorporated in Tuscany in 1847. Temporal possessions of the Pope — variously known as the Papal States, Roman States or States of the Church — formed a broad band across the middle of the peninsula. In the south of the mainland lay the large province of Naples, which was united with the island of Sicily to constitute the kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
