Venezia e l’urbanistica napoleonica: confisca e riuso degli edifici ecclesiastici tra il 1805 e il 1807

Since the mid-eighteenth century, Venice had desultorily faced the problem of the suppression of ecclesiastical orders and the ensuing conversion of their properties into sites for community facilities. In 1805 Napoleon ordered the confiscation of convents, monasteries and of their property in the cities that were part of the Kingdom of Italy. French measures appeared to be more articulated in the transformation of urban structures. Hence the arrival of Bonaparte in Venice was to have a crucial role in town planning. The strategy would become more and more complex, until it assumed the contours of a proper plan for the transformation of the urban structure.