Una nuova Coblenza. Venezia e gli emigrati francesi al tramonto della Repubblica

At the end of the Eighteenth century Venice had become a primary pole of attraction for émigrés fleeing from revolutionary France, in the view of the French chargé d’affaires. Was he right? This contribution answers to this question by analysing French presence in Venice and by examining how Venetian authorities dealt with the “émigrés problem”. It will be pointed out that, even if the French were the largest group of foreigners, the number of those who actually settled in the city was quite limited, especially if compared to the whole Venetian population. Nevertheless, Venetian authorities kept controlling them, fearing that dangerous revolutionary agents could have infiltrated the émigrés group. As it will be explained, the origin of all misunderstandings and suspicions was the very ambiguity of the emigré status. Far from being dissolved, such suspicions were indeed strengthened by the arrival of the French republican troops of Bonaparte in 1796-1797.