Ludovico I & Ludovico II
Faced with Napoleon's military victories in Italy (1796-1799) and a rising Jacobin tide, Ferdinando III could no longer avoid the inevitable. In 1799, he was constrained to depart for Vienna. On 7 April, Napoleonic troops entered Florence where republicans had recently established a new government. Almost at once, Napoleon began to implement his plans for the political reorganization of Italy. As part of his reorganization, Napoleon created the new Kingdom of Etruria (essentially the old Grand Duchy of Tuscany) and named Lodovico of Parma and his wife, Maria Luisa, the Infanta of Spain, to be the new king and queen. The choice of this couple was largely meant as a form of compensation to Lodovico's father, the Spanish Bourbon Duke of Parma, Ferdinando, who was dispossessed of his duchy when Parma was transferred from Spain to France in that same year. It was also meant to appease Charles IV, King of Spain, who had relinquished his title to Louisiana, in the New World, as part of these same negotiations. The Treaty of Aranjuez, signed on 21 March 1801, confirmed the secret provisions of the Third Treaty of Ildefonso, signed in 1800, and formalized the arrangements. Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, renounced his throne in the Treaty of Lunéville and Tuscany was awarded to the French. Ferdinando III was compensated for the loss of his grand duchy with the secularized territories of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Gioacchino Murat, Napoleon's brother-in-law and commander of the French cavalry in Italy, received Lodovico I and Maria Luisa as the new sovereigns of the Kingdom of Etruria when the young couple made their solemn entrance into Florence on 12 August 1801.
The new regime was characterized by an unusual passion for pomp and that continued after the premature death of Ludovico in 1803 after only two years on the throne. His young widow, Maria Luisa of Spain, was only twenty-one, but she was named regent for their four-year-old son, little Carlo Ludovico. He was styled Ludovico II as king. Maria Luisa maintained a court comparable to the royal court of Spain, and Palazzo Pitti became a theater for balls and other sumptuous entertainments, attended by the flower of the aristocracy. Pope Pius VII Chiaramonti, left Rome to attend Napoleon’s coronation and stopped in Florence in 1804 long enough for the confirmation of the young prince in the Room of Niches (Sala delle Nicchie). The pope came again in May of the following year.
Work continued on the palace during this period. On the second floor, under the direction of Pasquale Poccianti -- named Chief Engineer of the Palace in 1802. Work began on the quarter of the left wing symmetrical with Ferdinando III's Winter Apartments in the right wing. This section was intended to provide apartments for Count Odoardo Salvatico, Consigliere Direttores della Segreteria di Gabinetto. The queen employed Luigi Sabatelli to fresco the ceiling of a room in the palazzina Meridiana (Solomon’s Dream), and again for the queen, Poccianti -- now named First Architect of the Royal Palace – created a private chapel, decorated by Luigi Catani, using one of the small rooms along side of the Round Room (Gabinetto Rotondo).
In the meantime the rivalry between Maria Luisa's Etrurian court in Florence and the royal court in Lucca of Napoleon's sister, Elisa Bonaparte, continued. From 1805, Elisa Bonaparte, reigned with her husband, Felice Baciocchi, as Princess and Prince of Piombino, a small state on the Italian peninsula consisting of the city of Piombino and including parts of the island of Elba. In June 1805, the oligarchic Republic of Lucca, which had been occupied by France since late 1799, was made a principality and added to Felice and Élisa's domain. Their entry into Lucca and investiture ceremony followied on 14 July 1805. The competition between Maria Luisa and Elisa, not unexpectedly, finally resulted in the Elisa's victory. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau (27 October 1807), Tuscany was declared a dependency of France and control passed to Elisa. She moved into Palazzo Pitti after Maria Luisa departed with all her court for Portugal. Two years later, Napoleon named his sister Grand Duchess of Tuscany.
The new regime was characterized by an unusual passion for pomp and that continued after the premature death of Ludovico in 1803 after only two years on the throne. His young widow, Maria Luisa of Spain, was only twenty-one, but she was named regent for their four-year-old son, little Carlo Ludovico. He was styled Ludovico II as king. Maria Luisa maintained a court comparable to the royal court of Spain, and Palazzo Pitti became a theater for balls and other sumptuous entertainments, attended by the flower of the aristocracy. Pope Pius VII Chiaramonti, left Rome to attend Napoleon’s coronation and stopped in Florence in 1804 long enough for the confirmation of the young prince in the Room of Niches (Sala delle Nicchie). The pope came again in May of the following year.
Work continued on the palace during this period. On the second floor, under the direction of Pasquale Poccianti -- named Chief Engineer of the Palace in 1802. Work began on the quarter of the left wing symmetrical with Ferdinando III's Winter Apartments in the right wing. This section was intended to provide apartments for Count Odoardo Salvatico, Consigliere Direttores della Segreteria di Gabinetto. The queen employed Luigi Sabatelli to fresco the ceiling of a room in the palazzina Meridiana (Solomon’s Dream), and again for the queen, Poccianti -- now named First Architect of the Royal Palace – created a private chapel, decorated by Luigi Catani, using one of the small rooms along side of the Round Room (Gabinetto Rotondo).
In the meantime the rivalry between Maria Luisa's Etrurian court in Florence and the royal court in Lucca of Napoleon's sister, Elisa Bonaparte, continued. From 1805, Elisa Bonaparte, reigned with her husband, Felice Baciocchi, as Princess and Prince of Piombino, a small state on the Italian peninsula consisting of the city of Piombino and including parts of the island of Elba. In June 1805, the oligarchic Republic of Lucca, which had been occupied by France since late 1799, was made a principality and added to Felice and Élisa's domain. Their entry into Lucca and investiture ceremony followied on 14 July 1805. The competition between Maria Luisa and Elisa, not unexpectedly, finally resulted in the Elisa's victory. With the Treaty of Fontainebleau (27 October 1807), Tuscany was declared a dependency of France and control passed to Elisa. She moved into Palazzo Pitti after Maria Luisa departed with all her court for Portugal. Two years later, Napoleon named his sister Grand Duchess of Tuscany.