The Napoleonic age in Italy was the bearer of profound changes that involved every aspect of society.
This happened thanks to Napoleon, a character with a mathematical and rationalist profile, responsible for radical transformations within Italian society, culture and custom and that are recognized, in some cases, the starting point to reach the reality that we live today.
studenti
Napoleonic Age in Italy: history and organization of the Italian Kingdom
The Napoleonic era in Italy coincides with what we all know as the Kingdom of Italy, a state founded by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1805 and dissolved in 1814.
From the beginning, the Kingdom included all the Adriatic territories of the Republic of Venice, including Istria and Dalmatia; in 1808, then, it was annexed also the Republic of Ragusa and, the following year, Alto Adige.
At the beginning of 1810, the Kingdom of Italy consisted of 24 departments and had a very precise organization that also provided for a Council of State, albeit with a mere advisory function. The executive power, in fact, was all in the hands of King Napoleon.
The Council consisted of 35 members chosen by the sovereign plus ministers, members of the Council of State, and members of the Legislative Council. It was also divided into five sections: finance, war, justice, interior and worship.
For its organization, the Italian state of the Napoleonic age is recognized as the most primitive form of the state that will be formed with the Unity of 1861.
But the time of Napoleon was not memorable just for this reason: to make it so peculiar are in fact the great transformations that he brings to the entire society, many of which were the basis for the current structure of the country.
lidentitadiclio
The great transformations of Italian society in the Napoleonic age
The Napoleonic age is responsible for great progress in Italian society, first of all the issuing of the Civil Code in 1804, inspired by the egalitarian principles of the Enlightenment, which is at the basis of the principle of citizenship and electoral exercise and which also introduced innovations such as divorce and civil marriage, as well as eliminating inequalities between male and female children and abolishing feudal hereditary norms.
From 1804, also because of Napoleon’s desire to limit the influence of the Church within society, the control of civil status passed into the hands of the Kingdom and this marked one of the great changes of the period.
It is in the wake of the Civil Code that the Code of Commerce, the Penal Code and the Navigation Code will be born: all these changes mark a profound transformation of the country with the introduction of structures that will remain in time.
studiarapido
Napoleon Bonaparte and the Church
Referring back to what was said above, in the Napoleonic age there is a gradual but decisive distancing of the Church from the internal dynamics of society: an example is the liberation of manifestations, theatrical and musical performances even outside the circumscribed periods in which they were granted (such as carnival, for example).
With this reversal, Napoleon wants to configure Italy as a secular state, separating state power from ecclesiastical power, in the wake of the French Revolution and freeing the country from the burden of constraints and norms imposed by the church.
The school reform in the Napoleonic era
Another major change that belongs to the Napoleonic age concerns the school: in Italy the first law on public education dates back to 1802.
Always in the wake of the document with which, already in 1792, France established principles and parameters of the new school system, in 1808 in Italy it was decided that each municipality of the Kingdom should have an elementary school and that, above ten thousand inhabitants, even a high school.
storicang
The reform of cemeteries
It was Napoleon’s will that the cemeteries were moved from the city to the outlying areas or countryside, where they are often found even today.
The decision was established by the Edict of Saint-Cloud in 1804 and garnered much controversy.
Napoleon’s intention was to improve hygiene in the cities and to secularize the cemeteries, removing them from the jurisdiction of the church.
The tricolor flag
Few know this but the Italian flag, as we know it today, is part of the Napoleonic heritage. In fact, it is a variant of the French Revolution where green replaces blue.
Why green? For many, the choice of color is not random at all but a reminder of freedom and natural human rights.
The tricolor was then officially adopted by the Cispadana Republic in 1797 but took the form that still has today only in 1946, when the Savoy coat of arms was removed.
thevision
The streets of Rome and Milan
The Napoleonic era brought great transformations to urban planning, with particular attention to the cities of Rome and Milan.
In Rome, for example, it is thanks to the work of the architect G. Valadier that Piazza del Popolo assumed its peculiar shape, that which still has to this day, with ellipses with two porticoes on the sides.
In Milan, however, we remember the work of G. Antolini who was entrusted with the task of radically changing the area surrounding the Castello Sforzesco.
The architect made an ambitious project, with a large square with a diameter of five hundred meters that should have been called «Foro Bonaparte». Unfortunately, however, the project remained so and was not realized.