Liguria

History

Though, we can trace human settlement in Liguria since the first millennium BC, the Ligurian story begins with Rome. After the Roman conquest of the region, the emperor August, expanded the boundaries extending them to the banks of the River Po The four great Roman roads (Aurelia and Julia Augusta on the coast, Postumia and Aemilia Scauri inwards), have helped to strengthen the territorial unity and to increase trade and commerce.

Between the fourth and tenth centuries Liguria has seen the domination of various foreign peoples: first the Byzantines and, therefore, in order, the Lombards, the Franks, the Saracens and the Normans. During the tenth century, the Ligurian territory was divided into three parts: Obertenga, Arduino and Aleramica. Towards the end of the twelfth century, after a period that saw the increase of feudal structure, the main town in Liguria, especially coastal ones, are transformed into city-states, on which Genoa has rapidly extended its domain. Inland, however, the feudal structure had a much longer life.

Between the eleventh and the fifteenth century, the region sees its heyday, largely dued to the increased power of the Republic of Genoa, the most powerful city in the Meditarranean Sea between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries, as is proven by its successful resistance against the aggression of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and the Genoese presence in the centers of power during the last phase of the Byzantine Empire. Despite his military success and commercial Genova fell prey to internal factions that undermined its political structure.

In this state of weakness of the Republic, the power passed to the Visconti family of Milan, chased after a while following a revolt led Boccanegra. The republic remained in Genoese hands until 1396, when internal instability forced the doge Antoniotto Adorno to cede the title of lord of Genoa to the King of France, whose domination lasted only 13 years, at the end of which Liguria was returned to control of Milan. The alternation of rulers of france and Milan continued in Liguria until the first half of the sixteenth century. The French influence ceased in 1528, when Andrea Doria became an ally of the powerful king of Spain,who imposed a government that gave the republic a relative stablity for about 250 years. It was during this period that the depletion of commercial lines with the East has forced the chiefs to engage in financial speculation Liguria.

The international crisis of the seventeenth century ended with Genoa for the restoration of French power on the Republic with the bombing in 1684 by the fleet of Louis XIV, king of France. Ligurian territory was crossed by the Piedmontese and Austrian armies, so that in 1746 the area saw the Austrian occupation, which, however, lasted only one year.

The first campaign in Italy of Napoleon marked the end of Genoa as a Republic, which, by the will of the emperor, was transformed into the Ligurian Republic, following the model of the French Republic. After the union of Oneglia and Loano (1801), Liguria was annexed to the France (1805) and divided by Napoleon in three departments: Montenotte, with capital Savona, Genoa and the Department of the Apennines, with capital Chiavari.

After a brief period of independence in 1814, the Congress of Vienna (1815) established that the Liguria should be annexed to the kingdom of Sardinia. The bloody Genoese revolt against the house of Savoy in 1821, has awakened national feelings of the population, so that, some of the most prestigious in the Risorgimento were born in Liguria (Mazzini, Garibaldi, Mameli and Bixio).

Though in the early years of the century, the region's economic growth had been impressive during the tragic period of World War II and two years of occupation by German troops, the region saw a rapid decline that reduced the population to starvation. Genoa was one of the first Italian city to be liberated from Nazi occupation; in fact, when Allied troops entered the city, it had long been free and under the control of the partisans.