Napoleone nelle Alpi

I.S.T.A.
Napoleone
nelle Alpi
Le montagne d’Europa
tra Rivoluzione e Restaurazione
1
Novembre 2015
NAPOLEONE NELLE ALPI
Le montagne d’Europa tra Rivoluzione e Restaurazione
Progetto:
I.S.T.A. - Incontri per lo Studio delle Tradizioni Alpine
Revisione testi:
Loris Bendotti, Valeria Gazzoli.
Commissione di selezione:
Loris Bendotti, Ivan Faiferri, Luca Giarelli, Gian Paolo Scalvinoni, Giancarlo Taboni.
L’edizione di questo libro è stata curata da:
Luca Giarelli.
Immagini:
Copertina. Fronte: Napoleone attraversa le Alpi (J.L. David).
Retro: Napoleone a Sant’Elena (F.J. Sandmann); L’imperatore Napoleone nel suo studio (J.L. David); Napoleone I sul trono imperiale (J.A.D. Ingres).
Immagini: p. 26: Da Como (1926, p. 210).
Profilo montuoso: Monte Concarena, Valle Camonica.
Senza il permesso scritto è vietata la riproduzione del presente lavoro sotto qualsiasi forma.
Youcanprint Self-Publishing
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ISBN: 978-88-93216-32-6
Prima edizione italiana, novembre 2015.
Il progetto è stato possibile grazie a:
Comunità Montana
di Valle Camonica
www.cmvallecamonica.bs.it
Cassa Padana
Area Camuna
www.eurosiderscalo.com
2
www.cassapadana.it
Indice
Introduzione
pag.
5
»
9
»
27
»
45
»
63
»
83
»
97
(1797-1814).
»
117
Il Tirolo in età napoleonica (1796-1814): un quadro d’insieme
»
131
»
145
»
157
Parte I - Napoleone nelle Alpi
1.
Napoleone e la Valle Camonica ai tempi della campagna
d'Italia (1796-1797)
Luca Giarelli
2.
La Valle Camonica in età napoleonica
Fausto Bonomelli, Ivan Faiferri
3.
La Val Trompia in età napoleonica. Spigolature d'archivio
Giorgio Danesi
4.
La Valle Sabbia rivoluzionaria e napoleonica
Giancarlo Marchesi
5.
Un poeta nelle valli bresciane
Paolo Formenti
6.
Le rivolte del 1809 nel Dipartimento del Bacchiglione
Niccolò Valentini
7.
Il bellunese fra Napoleone e gli Asburgo
Un’élite confrontata al cambiamento
Valentina Dal Cin
8.
Carlo Romeo
9.
«Viva la libertà e vivano i francesi». La Valtellina e
Napoleone
Anna La Torre, Margherita Pedrana
10.
Valtellina e Valchiavenna al Congresso di Vienna
Gianluigi Garbellini
3
»
171
»
193
»
205
»
219
»
235
»
251
Calendario rivoluzionario francese
»
319
Credo repubblicano
»
320
Bibliografia
»
321
Abstracts
»
341
11.
L’età napoleonica in Valsassina: dall’antico al moderno
Federico Oriani
12.
La Valsesia napoleonica: confine di Stato e confine di diocesi
Gianpaolo Fassino
13.
L’oppressione franco-giacobina in Piemonte (1798-1800)
Gustavo Mola di Nomaglio
14.
Dal 1794 all’impero napoleonico: il Dipartimento di Montenotte
Carmelo Prestipino
15.
Il passaggio napoleonico delle Alpi e il Carnevale
Eleonora Tossani
Parte II - Appendice
Beni comuni, originari e forestieri nella montagna bresciana:
documenti e terminazioni dal XVI al XIX secolo
Luca Giarelli
4
Abstracts
1. Napoleon and Valle Camonica during the Italian campaign (1796-1797)
In April 1796 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded the Italian territories. Thanks to a
series of brilliant military victories and to the support of the local revolutionaries, he redrew the political framework of the Italian peninsula creating a series of
new republics that replaced the old regional states.
The article focuses on the events occurred in Valle Camonica, a valley north of
Brescia, formerly included in the Republic of Venice, in the period between the
establishment of the Republic of Brescia and the Cisalpine Republic. Through the
analysis of the sources, the events between a first attempt to object to the revolutionary movements and the subsequent accession to them will be examined.
2. Valle Camonica in the Napoleonic era
The paper is divided in two parts: the former describes the events following the
advent of the French armies in Valle Camonica, with a focus on the institutional
changes imposed by the different governments and occurred in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Age (1796-1814). The latter, based on the records of the city
archives of Vione, deals with the socio-economic changes occurred in this period
in Valle Camonica. From the analysis of the records of the city archives, the study
tries to define the impact of the new models of government on the ancient local
institutions and the role of the proto-capitalist businessmen in the alienation of
the communal properties.
3. Val Trompia in the Napoleonic era. Archival gleanings
The Napoleonic era in Val Trompia opened with an insurgence against the Provisional Government of Brescia of Jacobin inspiration.
The reinterpretation of the archival records points out that the causes of the insurgence were not ideological, but purely local, related to the conflict between the
Upper valley (loyal to Venice) and the Lower valley (close to the city of Brescia).
In the first part of the article this thesis is analysed through some digressions
about the history and the economy of the Valley. The second part aims to confirm
the thesis through the analysis of archival sources related to different subjects
(conscription, religion, charity, education and economy) during the whole Napoleonic era. The analysis shows that Val Trompia was an active interpreter of
the reforms connected to the different regimes that followed from 1797 to 1815.
From a local point of view, the Napoleonic era marked the transition of the
hegemony from the Upper valley (which had imposed the insurgence in 1797) to
the Lower valley (which had a phase of strong economic growth).
341
Abstracts
4. Val Sabbia and the Napoleonic revolution
The article begins introducing the territorial, agricultural and economic framework of Valle Sabbia, a valley north of Brescia, on the eve of the fall of the
Republic of Venice. Then the article focuses on the dissolution of the Republic of
Venice and on the insurgence against it which , in the spring of 1797, was led by
the people of Val Sabbia.
After explaining the political and institutional changes, the article analyses the
construction of the Rocca d’Anfo , one of the largest military fortress in Europe in
the first decade of the 19th century.
5. A poet in the valleys of Brescia
In the 1811 the poet Cesare Arici replied to the insistences of the General Director for the Public Education of the time, Giovanni Scopoli, drawing up his report
on the Mella Department. His account will become a part of an ambitious project
of investigation about the popular habits and traditions of the Kingdom of Italy.
The work follows Cesare Arici’s methodological way, focused on classicism
and hippocratism, which will lead to an idealized vision of the examined territories, providing an interesting alternative viewpoint about the folkloristic topic.
6. The 1809 revolts in the Bacchiglione Department
The revolts broke out in the Bacchiglione Department (Vicenza) in 1809 were
led by a series of different entities, without a guide who coordinated from above
and therefore without a clear organization. The main causes were two: the economical claims and the social unrest of the people in the Department.
During the Venetian rule the local villages had benefited from a particularly
economical system: they could smuggle without being hampered.
Subsequently, during the Napoleonic and the Austrian domination, all the privileges were abolished because of the «criterion of equality» among the different
territories belonging to the same public jurisdiction.
7. Belluno between Napoleon and the Habsburg family (1797-1814): an elite compared to the change
This article concerns the period between the arrival of the French troops led
by general Bonaparte in 1796 and the end of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy in
1814 focusing on the province of Belluno. A study in order to investigate how
the political transformations experienced in Veneto region after the end of the
Venetian Republic affected the local ruling class. An overview of the major political changes and an account of the main characteristics of the local institutions
have been combined with the study of single individuals (Pagani-Cesa, Mengotti,
Miari, Manzoni) who succeeded in remaining or entering in the elite of Belluno.
Their example shows that even in a peripheral province as Belluno the end of
the Ancien Régime gave rise to new social dynamics. Even if the noble status still
had importance, other elements were formally taken into consideration: ability,
competence, wealth and devotion to public service. At the end of the 19th century
Italian elites became consolidated in this combination of old and new features.
342
Abstracts
8. Tyrol in the Napoleonic era (1796-1813)
The report starts with a short summary of Tyrolean society and institutions
in the second half of the 18th century. Tyrol was directly involved in the wars
between the revolutionary France and the various coalitions of European monarchies. With the peace of Pressburg in 1805, Tyrol was ceded to Bavaria, an ally
of the French. The radical Bavarian reforms, especially the measures affecting
religious matters, the taxation and the compulsory draft, caused discontent in the
Tyrolean population. As agreed with Vienna, in April 1809 the Tyrolean rebels
put the Bavarians to flight. In the following months they succeeded in repulsing
many enemy attacks. Among their leaders, Andreas Hofer stood out. He was
an innkeeper from the Passeier Valley, who settled in Innsbruck as temporary
governor. The Austrian Emperor was defeated by Napoleon and he signed the
Treaty of Schönbrunn, by which he relinquished Tyrol. Despite a promise of amnesty, the Tyrolean rebels continued their resistance. Hofer was captured, tried
and shot in Mantua (20th February 1810).
From 1810 to 1813 Tyrol is divided between the Kingdom of Bavaria in the
north, the Kingdom of Italy in the south and the Illyrian Provinces, directly annexed to the French empire, in the east. The territory under the control of the
Kingdom of Italy was named Dipartimento dell’Alto Adige (Department of the
Upper Adige) and Trent was its capital. When Napoleon fell from power, Austria
regained possession of Tyrol.
The report ends with an analysis of the process of lionization of Andreas Hofer’s figure and history.
9. «Long live Freedom and long live to the French». Valtellina and Napoleon
In 1797, thanks to the expedition of Napoleon in Italy, Valtellina was taken
away from the Three Leagues State (today Kanton Graubünden) and was joined
to the Italian Cisalpine Republic.
The article examines the events of the valley between this period and the 1815,
the year of Napoleon’s defeat.
10. Valtellina e Valchiavenna at the Congress of Vienna
Since its first sessions the Committee for Switzerland, composed by the delegates of Austria, Prussia, Russia, England and France, established as principle the
return of Valtellina and the Counties of Bormio and Chiavenna to Switzerland.
The «Valtellina issue» was not easy to solve. Hans Reinhard, leader of the Swiss
delegation, was against the creation of the Valtellina Canton and proposed the
entrance of the valley and the Counties in the Canton of Grisons as 4th League and
with the same rights. The Grisons delegates were not of the same opinion; they
wanted to compensate people who had been damaged by the Confisca Reta and
prevent the entrance of Valtellina in their Canton.
In Vienna the delegates of Valtellina, Count Diego Guicciardi and Gerolamo
Stampa, supported the will of the Grisons old «Vassal Countries»: first of all they
wanted to maintain the union with Lombardy and the creation of an independent Valtellina Canton. With great skill they involved the representatives of the
343
Abstracts
Italian States in favor of the union with Lombardy, overcoming the resistance of
Russia, France and England which at the end approved this option.
Thanks to secret negotiations, the delegate of Geneva succeeded in connecting
the Valtellina issue with the enlargement of his City-Canton, suggesting a series
of assignations which guaranteed to Austria the union of Valtellina and Valchiavenna to Lombardy.
11. The Napoleonic era in Valsassina: from the old to the modern world
The Napoleonic era was a time of discontinuity in comparison to the past for
different reasons, among them the centralization of the public administration
which is analyzed examining in depth the changing local administrative structure, the new statistical approach, the bureaucratization of the offices and the use of
print media for the propaganda. The new public law gave the possibility of social
climbing to the families who proved to be ideologically close to Jacobinism, as
the Ticozzi brothers from Pasturo who reached important administrative roles
and the baronial title. The maintenance of the bureaucratic machine, the incessant state of war and the heavy taxation required by France imposed on the population economic increases and in particular the conscription. The whole Italy
reacted to the obligatory military service by deserting and leading many young
people to live in hiding and to support themselves with acts of banditry. Despite the gradual tightening of the police measures, public order in the valley was
often disturbed by the war events of 1799/1800 and by attempts to rebel against
the power. The riots culminated in a state of anarchy in 1814, with the defeat of
Napoleon and the return of the Austrians.
12. The Napoleonic Valsesia: border of a State and border of a diocese
The French myth of the «natural boundary», taken to the extreme, caused in
September 1800 the cut in two parts of Valsesia (along its entire length), interrupting suddenly both the secular administrative unit and the self-governance of the
valley. A valley shocked by an «absurd» and «unfortunate» boundary: in fact
in the Middle and in the Upper valley the border between the French Republic
and the Cisalpine Republic was not drawn along the ridge of the mountains, as it
should have been considering the orographic configuration of the territory, but it
was drawn along the course of the Sesia river.
The reorganization of the civil administration had also consequences on the
diocesan structure. Valsesia had always been part of the diocese of Novara. Establishing the department of Agogna and merging its territory with the Cisalpine
Republic, since 1800-01 the bishop of Vercelli was temporarily called to exercise
its jurisdiction over the territories on the right bank.
This transformation was further formalized with the decree of Cardinal Caprara on 25th January 1805 that reorganized the entire structure of the Church in
Piedmont. However, in the new separated communities there was a lack of churches, parishes and cemeteries that caused a confused and complicated situation
lasted until the Restoration.
344
Abstracts
13. Franco-Jacobin oppression in Piedmont (1798-1800)
The article examines the Napoleonic period through a critique of the ideals
professed by the revolutionaries and their effective realization, analyzing in particular the case of Piedmont.
14. From 1794 to the Napoleonic Empire: the Department of Montenotte
The adventure of Napoleone Bonaparte began on Cadibona hill, at the entrance
of the Maritime Alps, west of Liguria, an area with a rough topography and an
hinterland characterized by mountains with acclivities, in whose valleys the three Bormida rivers flow (Bormida of Mallare, Bormida of Pallare and Bormida of
Millesimo). The road system was formed by mule tracks that crossed Scravajon,
St. Giacomo, Melogno and Cadibona Passes, continuing inland along the ridges.
French invasion began in 1794 when the coast was occupied by French and the
Oltregiogo area was controlled by Austrian-Piedmontese army until spring 1796.
Bonaparte took the command on 23rd March and on 11th April his divisions climbed to the mountain passes of Melogno and Cadibona: he defeated the Austrians
at Montenotte and Dego, the Piedmontese troops at Cosseria and Millesimo and
on 27th April Piedmont signed the surrender in Cherasco.
In 1800 the Austrian-Russian army arrived in Liguria sacking it, but in June of
the same year Bonaparte defeated the Austrians in Marengo, also stopping the
anti-French bands.
In 1805 Ligurian Republic was annexed to the French empire and the Department of Montenotte born, including the districts of Savona, Acqui Terme, Porto
Maurizio and Ceva led by Prefect Gilbert Chabrol de Volvic; Chabrol’s administration brought the modernization of the road system, of the healthcare and of
the economy, with a project for a ship canal that should have connected the port
of Savona to Po river.
15. Napoleon crossing the Alps and the Carnival
In May 1800, in the icy landscapes of the St. Bernard Pass, uniforms of the
Napoleonic army appeared. The story is interwoven with the myth, the writing
becomes inverted reflection of a passage that helps to create imaginary spaces
of identity. For the inhabitants of the Alpine valleys, the Napoleonic march is
related to a set of ancestral stories, whose memories have been handed down
and their ritual calendar remind, with ambivalent masks that only Carnival staging can play, memories that the time cannot delete but only remodel without
altering the meaning. Passages, mythical memory and places that preserve the
ambiguous status of space/border where to realise symbolic rituals, this is the
physical and cultural space that attends the Napoleonic passage.
The Carnival, expression of the Alpine Valleys collective desires and fruit of
their myth-making, is filled with figures that remind the Napoleonic adventure.
Legislative actions of the Emperor introduced institutionalized masks with the
function of control and discipline. In this article there is an analysis of the Carnival in order to investigate the devices of the truth, the speech and the territory
between the sunset of the modern age and the dawn of the contemporary world.
345
Abstracts
16. Common goods, originari and forestieri in the mountain of Brescia:
documents and terminazioni from 16th to 19th century
In the ancient mountain communities of the Brescia area there were two social
groups: the originari («the originals inhabitants»), i.e. members of the families
who claimed to live in that place since time immemorial and who had many common goods, and the forestieri («the foreigners»), groups of families who settled in
a second time in the villages.
The will of the forestieri to take part in the assemblies (called vicinia) of the
originari led to significant discussions between the two parties over the centuries.
This article proposes a short analysis of the issue through some attached documents as the: Decisione generale stabilita dagl’illustrissimi & eccellentissimi signori
Sindaci, et Inquisitori in Terra Ferma per troncare le liti trà gli originarij, e forestieri di
tutti li communi (1674); Terminazione generale dell’illustrissimo ed eccellentissimo signore Francesco Grimani (1764); Al Gran Consiglio gli antichi originari di Valcamonica
(VI Rep.); Decreto relativo al modo di terminare le questioni vertenti fra gli antichi e
nuovi originarj dei comuni degli stati ex veneti (1806).
346