The Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia (Italian: Regno Lombardo-Veneto, German: Königreich Lombardo-Venetien; Latin: Regnum Langobardiae et Venetiae), commonly called the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom, was a constituent land (crown land) of the Austrian Empire. It was created in 1815 by resolution of the Congress of Vienna in recognition of the Austrian House of Habsburg-Lorraine's rights to Lombardy and the former Republic of Venice after the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed in 1805, had collapsed. It was finally dissolved in 1866 when its remaining territory fell to the Kingdom of Italy.
After the Second Italian War of Independence and the defeat in the Battle of Solferino in 1859, Austria by the Treaty of Zurich had to cede Lombardy up to the Mincio River, except for the fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera, to the French Emperor Napoleon III, who immediately passed it to the Kingdom of Sardinia and the embryonic Italian state. Maximilian retired to Miramare Castle near Trieste, while the capital was relocated to Venice, however, remaining Venetia and Mantua likewise fell to the Kingdom of Italy in the aftermath of the Austro-Prussian War, by the 1866 Peace of Prague. The territory of Venetia and Mantua was formally transferred from Austria to France, and then handed over to Italy on 19 October 1866, for diplomatic reasons; a plebiscite marked the Italian annexation on 21–22 October 1866. |
