Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia

Administration

Administratively the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia comprised two independent governments (Gubernien) in its two parts, which officially were declared separate crown lands in 1851. Each part was further subdivided into several provinces, roughly corresponding with the départements of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy.

Lombardy included the provinces of Milan, Como, Bergamo, Brescia, Pavia, Cremona, Mantua, Lodi-Crema, and Sondrio. Venetia included the provinces of Venice, Verona, Padua, Vicenza, Treviso, Rovigo, Belluno, and Udine.

According to the Ethnographic map of Karl von Czoernig-Czernhausen, issued by the Imperial and Royal Administration of Statistics in 1855, the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia then had a population of 5,024,117 people, consisting of the following ethnic groups: 4,625,746 Italians (Lombard-Venetians); 351,805 Friulians; 12,084 Germans (Cimbrians in Venetia); 26,676 Slovenians; and 7,806 Jews.

For the first time since 1428, Lombardy reappeared as an entity, the first time in history that the term "Lombardy" was officially used to call specifically that entity and not for the whole of Northern Italy.

The administration used Italian as its language in its internal and external communications and documents, and the language's dominant position in politics, finance or jurisdiction was not questioned by the Austrian officials. The Italian-language Gazzetta di Milano was the official newspaper of the kingdom. Civil servants employed in the administration were predominantly Italian, with only about 10% of them being recruited from other regions of the Austrian Empire. Some bilingual Italian-German-speaking civil servants came from the neighbouring County of Tyrol. The German language, however, was the command language of the military, and top police officials were native German-speakers from other parts of the empire. The highest governorships were also reserved for Austrian aristocrats.

Austrian General Karl von Schönhals wrote in his memoirs that the Austrian administration enjoyed the support of the rural population and the middle class educated at the universities of Pavia and Padua, who were able to pursue careers in the administration.

Von Schönhals further noted that the Austrians mistrusted and refused the local aristocrats from high government offices, as they traditionally had rejected university education and had been able to gain leadership positions because of their family background. Consequently, the aristocrats saw themselves deprived of the possibility of establishing themselves in the management of society and supported the wars of independence against the Austrians.

Kings

Governors of Lombardy

• Heinrich Johann Bellegarde 1814–1816
• Franz Josef Graf Sauru 1816–1818
• Giulio Strassoldo di Sotto 1818–1830
• Franz von Hartig 1830–1840
• Robert von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Raitz 1840–1841
• Johann Baptist Spaur 1841–1848
• Maximilian Karl Lamoral O'Donnell 1848 (acting)
• Felix von Schwarzenberg 1848
• Franz Wimpffen 1848 (acting)
• Alberto Montecuccoli-Laderchi 1848–1849 (acting)
• Karl Borromäus Philipp zu Schwarzenberg 1849–1850 (acting)
• Michele Strassoldo-Grafenberg 1851–1857 (with the title of Lieutenant of Lombardy)
• Friedrich von Burger 1857–1859

Governors of Venetia

• Peter Goëss 1815–1819
• Ferdinand Ernst Maria von Bissingen-Nippenburg 1819–1820
• Carlo d'Inzaghi 1820–1826
• Johann Baptist Spaur 1826–1840
• Aloys Pálffy de Erdöd 1840–1848
• Ferdinand Zichy zu Zich von Vasonykeöy 1848 (acting)
• Laval Nugent von Westmeath 1848–1849 (military governor)
• Karl von Gorzowsky 1849
• Stanislaus Anton Puchner 1849–1850
• Georg Otto von Toggenburg-Sargans 1850–1855
• Kajetan von Bissingen-Nippenburg 1855–1860
• Georg Otto von Toggenburg-Sargans 1860–1866 (second time)

Flags and Coats of Arms