The Department of Alto Adige (Italian and official ''Dipartimento dell'Alto Adige'', french: link=no, département du Haut-Adige, translated into English ''Department of Upper Adige'') was a northern department of the

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. The name had been used for a district of the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic ( it, Repubblica Cisalpina) was a sister republic of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organiz ...

. Its name, in typical Napoleonic fashion of naming departments after geographic features, derived from the river

Adige The Adige (; german: Etsch ; vec, Àdexe ; rm, Adisch ; lld, Adesc; la, Athesis; grc, Ἄθεσις, Áthesis, or , ''Átagis'') is the second-longest river in Italy, after the Po. It rises near the Reschen Pass in the Vinschgau in the pro ...

(Etsch in German) which flowed through it. Neither the Cisalpine district nor the department of the Kingdom of Italy correspond precisely to the modern Italian province of ''Alto Adige'' (known as

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

in English), although there is some geographical overlap.

History

Cisalpine Republic

Under the

a district of Alto Adige (''Distretto dell'Alto Adige'') was created as a part of the short-lived "Department of Benaco". The District of Alto Adige included some municipalities of today's

province of Verona The Province of Verona ( it, Provincia di Verona) is a province in the Veneto administrative region of Italy. On its northwestern border, Lake GardaItaly's largestis divided between Verona and the provinces of Brescia ( Lombardy region) and Tren ...

. The Department of Benaco, which was created in 1797, was disbanded in 1798 and with it the District of Alto Adige after a structural reorganization of the Napoleon's Italian republic.

Kingdom of Italy

After the partition of the County of Tyrol between Bavaria and the Kingdom of Italy on 9 June 1810 by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

, the new department of Alto Adige was created. It comprised the largest part of today's province of

Trentino Trentino ( lld, Trentin), officially the Autonomous Province of Trento, is an autonomous province of Italy, in the country's far north. The Trentino and South Tyrol constitute the region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, an autonomous region ...

, communes in the provinces of Vicenza and Brescia, and parts of today's province of Alto Adige/South Tyrol (the city of

Bolzano Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third ...

, the district of

Überetsch-Unterland Überetsch-Unterland ( it, Oltradige-Bassa Atesina ; german: Überetsch-Unterland) is a district ( it, comprensorio; german: Bezirksgemeinschaft) in the southern part of the Italian province of South Tyrol. It comprises the valley of the Adige rive ...

, some parts of Salten-Schlern and

Burggrafenamt The Burggrafenamt ( it, Burgraviato , german: Burggrafenamt) is a district ( it, comprensorio, german: Bezirksgemeinschaft) in the western part of the Italian province of South Tyrol. It comprises the part of the Adige river valley between Naturns ...

). Its capital was Trent and the administrative language Italian, but the German-speaking areas temporarily adopted bilingualism in the public notices and used German in city government. The department was known in German as "Ober-Etsch". The department included the area around

, while the northern parts of today's South Tyrol were left united to Bavaria. The department was disbanded after the defeat of Napoleon in 1814. Its territory was divided over the actual Italian autonomous provinces of

Trento Trento ( or ; Ladin and lmo, Trent; german: Trient ; cim, Tria; , ), also anglicized as Trent, is a city on the Adige River in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol in Italy. It is the capital of the autonomous province of Trento. In the 16th centu ...

and Bolzano/Bozen (also known as South Tyrol in English or Alto Adige in Italian). Alto Adige in history

Reuse of name

The name ''Alto Adige'' had no historical antecedent about the region it denoted, but merely described the geographic area of the upper reaches of the Adige river. This was something that was commonly done during the Napoleonic period when naming departments, ignoring any historical names or connotations but using geographical references. The name was dropped after the end of the Napoleonic period, but was used by the

Italian irredentists Italian irredentism ( it, irredentismo italiano) was a nationalist movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples ...

in the mid 1800s. The term "Alto Adige" was later used as the Italian name of the

province of Bolzano it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous area, Autonomous Provinces of Italy, province , image_skyline = ...

by the fascist

Ettore Tolomei Ettore Tolomei (16 August 1865, in Rovereto – 25 May 1952, in Rome) was an Italian nationalist and fascist. He was designated a Member of the Italian Senate in 1923, and ennobled as Conte della Vetta in 1937. Pre-World War I activism Born int ...

in his

Italianization Italianization ( it, italianizzazione; hr, talijanizacija; french: italianisation; sl, poitaljančevanje; german: Italianisierung; el, Ιταλοποίηση) is the spread of Italian culture, language and identity by way of integration or ass ...

campaign. He used the words "Alto Adige" as a historical connection to the Napoleon's geopolitical transformation of the Italian peninsula.Alto Adige under Napoleon
/ref> In 1918 what was used to be officially called "southern Tyrol" or "cisalpine Tyrol" was united after the end of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

to Italy; the term "Alto Adige" was applied and made official by the fascist regime in 1923.

History

Cisalpine Republic

Kingdom of Italy

Reuse of name

References

Further reading

See also