The current administrative boundaries of the province have deep historical roots, corresponding largely to the Duchy of Mantua, which was a fief of the Holy Roman Empire. The Napoleonic Department of the Mincio became the Province of Mantua at the birth of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia in 1815. Following the Battle of Solferino on 24 June 1859, Franco-Piedmontese troops conquered Lombardy up to the right bank of the Mincio, and the resulting Armistice of Villafranca of 11 June 1859 between France and Austria called for the new provincial boundaries, splitting in two the part of the previous Province of Mantova that was crossed by the new international border. The new provincial boundaries came into effect after laws enacted in 1868. The coat of arms of the province, containing the symbols of Mantua, Bozzolo and Castiglione delle Stiviere, embodies the union of those three areas and was adopted in place of the previous one.