Una statistica sugli edifici pubblici per l'istruzione in età napoleonica: i casi di Venezia e Milano

In the territories under the Napoleonic domination during the Kindgom of Italy (1805-1814), a new field of thought began to spread, aimed at studying the city on scientific basis and promoting the adoption of statistical methods in the framework of administrative analysis of the urban phenomenon. The most important supporters of this new field of studies were Melchiorre Gioia and Carlo Cattaneo. This essay is based on a series of documents, held at the Archive of State of Milan, which were used for the compilation of the Statistics of the Kingdom (which remained incomplete) under the authority of the ministry of the Interior, Ludovico Di Breme. A special commission under the direction of Melchiorre Gioia prepared a questionnaire to be addressed to the locai authorities. The information about the public buildings refers to three categories ("education", "religious places", "jails"), which correspond to three functions of the State ("promote", "assist", "punish"). The importance of an urban centre is thus linked, a part to the population number, to the presence of these collective facilities. In this essay, the statistical data of the documents are developed both at a territorial (department) level and at urban level. A particular attention is given to the two most important cities of the Kingdom (Milan and Venice).