ABSTRACT
The Treaty of Vienna, concluded in 1815 after the final defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo, allegedly ‘restored’ the map of Italy to a state similar to that of 1748, though in fact it reduced the political fragmentation of the peninsula, strengthened the main states (the kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples, and the Austrian dominions), and suppressed all the ancient republics except San Marino (see Map 4). Genoa and its territories (mainly the region of Liguria) were joined to Piedmont, Nice and Savoy as part of an enlarged Kingdom of Sardinia, under the house of Savoy, which thereby was strengthened as a buffer state between France and Austria. Venice and most of its Italian and Adriatic territories were passed to the Austrian Empire, which also directly controlled Lombardy. Lucca became a Duchy under a branch of the Bourbon family. Maria Luisa, Napoleon's estranged wife and daughter of the Emperor of Austria, was made Duchess of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla. Modena went to the Dukes of Este (closely related to Austria). Most of Tuscany was again under a branch of the house of Habsburg-Lorraine, whose head ruled in Vienna as Emperor of Austria. The Pope saw his temporal power reinstated over most of central Italy south and east of Tuscany. The major part of southern Italy, including Sicily, went back to the Neapolitan Bourbons, who ruled over the largest and most populous state in the peninsula. The two technically separate kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were united as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Ferdinand IV (1751–1825) became Ferdinand I. This reduced the number of sizeable political units in Italy from eleven to nine. Complicated arrangements were made for the future of three of the lesser states. When the Duchess of Massa and Carrara died, her territory was to be added to the Duchy of Modena. By a supplementary agreement of 1817, when the Duchess of Parma died, the Duke of Lucca was to succeed her, and the Duchy of Lucca was to be annexed to Tuscany. So the Treaty provided for the eventual division of Italy into only seven significant parts. Massa and Carrara in fact disappeared in 1829, and Lucca, under circumstances which will be related below, in 1847. As a consequence, the peninsula saw the replacement of French influence by Austrian. Only two states (the kingdoms of Sardinia and the Two Sicilies) were effectively independent and under ‘national’ (or rather ‘naturalized’) dynasties. The Pope was formally independent, but, as it turned out, needed Austrian and French military help, which provided troops intermittently and eventually (after 1849) permanently to garrison most of his territories. The central duchies — including Tuscany, Modena, and Parma — were indirectly but effectively controlled by Austria.
