Marengo () was a department of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (), was founded on 21 September 1792 during the French Revolution. The First Republic lasted un ...

and of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

in present-day Italy. It was named after the Marengo plain near Alessandria to commemorate the eponymous French victory. It was formed in 1802, detaching part of the department of Tanaro, when the Subalpine Republic (formerly the mainland portion of the

Kingdom of Sardinia The Kingdom of Sardinia, also referred to as the Kingdom of Sardinia and Corsica among other names, was a State (polity), country in Southern Europe from the late 13th until the mid-19th century, and from 1297 to 1768 for the Corsican part of ...

) was directly annexed to France. Its capital was Alessandria, formerly the capital of Tanaro. Initially it comprised the former Piedmontese provinces of Alessandria, Casale, Tortona, Voghera and Bobbio. Following the annexation of the Ligurian Republic to France in 1805, Voghera, Bobbio and Tortona passed to the newly created Department of Genoa, while the Department of Marengo acquired

Asti Asti ( , ; ; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of 74,348 inhabitants (1–1–2021) located in the Italy, Italian region of Piedmont, about east of Turin, in the plain of the Tanaro, Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and ...

, previously in the Department of Tanaro. The department was disbanded after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. At the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon, Napol ...

, the Savoyard

King of Sardinia Sardinia is traditionally known to have been initially ruled by the Nuragic civilization, which was followed by Greek colonization, conquest by the Carthagians, Carthaginians, and occupied by the Ancient Rome, Romans for around a thousand years, ...

was restored in all his previous realms and domains, including

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

. Its territory is now divided between the Italian provinces of Alessandria and

Subdivisions

The department was subdivided into the following ''arrondissements'' and '' cantons'' (situation in 1812):Almanach Impérial an bissextil MDCCCXII
p. 430-431, accessed in Gallica 25 July 2013 * Alessandria, cantons: Alessandria (2 cantons), Bosco, Cassine, Castellazzo, Felizzano, Sezzadio and Valenza. *

, cantons:

, Canelli,

Castelnuovo d'Asti Castelnuovo or Castel Nuovo (Italian for 'new castle/fortress') may refer to : Places and jurisdictions In Italy ''Comuni'' (communes or municipalities): * Castelnuovo, Trentino, Province of Trento * Castelnuovo Belbo, Province of Asti * Cast ...

, Cocconato, Costigliole, Mombercelli, Montafia, Montechiaro, Portacomaro, Rocca d'Arazzo, San Damiano, Tigliole and Villanova d'Asti. * Casale, cantons: Casale, Gabiano, Moncalvo, Montemagno, Montiglio, Pontestura, Rosignano, San Salvatore, Ticineto and Villanova. Its population in 1812 was 318,447, and its area was 348,261 hectares. The division was included within the 28th military division, the 16th cohort of the ''

légion d'honneur The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

'', the 29th ''conservation des forêts'', the Diocese of Casale, the '' sénatorerie'' of

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

and the court of appeal of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. It elected three deputies to the '' Corps législatif'' of the First Empire.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marengo (Department) Former departments of France in Italy 1802 establishments in France