Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic ( ) was a French client republic in Northern Italy that lasted from 1797 to 1802 . Birth . After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796 , Napoleon Bonaparte proceeded to organize two states : one to the south of the Po River , the Cispadane Republic , and one to the north , the Transpadane Republic . On 19 May 1797 , Napoleon transferred the territories of the former Duchy of Modena to Transpadania and , on 12 Messidor ( June 29 ) , he decreed the birth of the Cisalpine Republic , creating a Directory for the republic and appointing its ministers . France published the constitution of the new republic on 20 Messidor ( 7 July ) , establishing the division of the territory into eleven departments : Adda ( Lodi ) , Alpi Apuane ( Massa ) , Crostolo ( Reggio ) , Lario ( Como ) , Montagna ( Lecco ) , Olona ( Milan ) , Panaro ( Modena ) , Po ( Cremona ) , Serio ( Bergamo ) , Ticino ( Pavia ) , and Verbano ( Varese ) . The rest of Cispadania was merged into the Cisalpine Republic on 27 July , with the capital of the unified state being Milan . On 1 Brumaire ( 22 October ) Bonaparte announced the union of Valtelline with the republic , after its secession from the Swiss Three Grey Leagues . Austria acknowledged the new entity in the Treaty of Campoformio of 17 October , gaining in exchange what remained of the Venetian Republic . On 25 Brumaire ( 15 November ) the full international recognition and legality of the new state was ratified by the law governing the final annexation of the conquered territories . The parliament , composed of two chambers ( the " Great Council " and the " Council of the Seniors " ) , was appointed directly by Napoleon on 1 Frimaire ( 21 November ) . He justified this undemocratic action as a necessity of war . New departments joined the eleven original ones and Valtelline in the following months : Benaco ( Desenzano ) on 11 Ventose ( 1 March 1798 ) , Mella ( Brescia ) on 13 Floreal ( 2 May ) , Mincio ( Mantua ) on 7 Prairial ( 26 May ) , and five departments of Emilia . The structural phase of the republic was terminated on 14 Fructidor ( 31 August ) , when France dismissed all the authorities of the republic , replacing them by a stronger executive power under a new constitution . Institutional form . The institutions of the new republic were very similar to those of France . The territory was divided into departments which elected the " judges of peace " , the " magistrates " and the " electors " , one for every 200 people having the right to vote . The latter elected two councils : the " Consiglio dei Seniori " ( " Council of the Seniors " ) and the " Gran Consiglio " ( " Great Council " ) . The first was initially composed of 40 to 60 members and approved the laws and modifications to the Constitutional Chart . The second initially had from 80 to 120 members and proposed the laws . Both councils discussed treaties , the choice of a Directory , and the determination of tributes . The legislative corps included men like Pietro Verri , Giuseppe Parini and the scientist Alessandro Volta . The electors had to be landowners or wealthy . The Directory was composed of five directors and represented the executive power : leaders were local politicians like Gian Galeazzo Serbelloni , the first president . The Directory chose its secretary , and appointed the six ministers : for justice , war , foreign affairs , internal affairs , police , and finance . The supreme authority , however , was the commander of the French troops . The republic also adopted the French Republican Calendar . Each department had its own local directory of five members , as did communes between 3 , 000 and 100 , 000 inhabitants . The biggest communes were divided into municipalities , with a central joint commission to handle the general affairs of the cities . The smallest communes were united in districts with a single municipality , with each commune having its own " municipal agent " . Second constitution . The first constitution did not have a long life . On 14 Fructidor , year VI ( 31 August 1798 ) , the French ambassador Claude - Joseph Trouvé ( who was only thirty years old ) dismissed the Directory , and the next day he promulgated a new constitution with a stronger executive power . The departments numbered eleven again , now covering larger geographical areas : Olona ( Milan ) , Alto Po ( Cremona ) , Serio ( Bergamo ) , Adda and Oglio ( Morbegno ) , Mella ( Brescia ) , Mincio ( Mantua ) , Panaro ( Modena ) , Crostolo ( Reggio ) , Reno ( Bologna ) , Basso Po ( Ferrara ) , Rubicone ( Forlì ) . The membership of the local directories was reduced to three , and the municipalities for communes between 3 , 000 and 10 , 000 inhabitants were disbanded . Trouvé appointed the new Directory , which had stronger powers , and a new parliament composed of two councils : the " Anziani " ( " Elders " ) and the " Giuniori " ( " Youngers " ) . The first was composed of 40 elected members together with the former directors . The second had 80 members . A new coup d ' état , attempted by French general Guillaume Marie Anne Brune the next autumn , was disavowed by the French Directory on 17 Frimaire ( 7 December ) . Directors . The first Directory of the republic was appointed by Napoleon the same day as the proclamation of the birth of the State , on 12 Messidor , year V ( 29 June 1797 ) . The second Directory of the Republic was appointed by Trouvé the same day as the proclamation of the second constitution , on 14 Fructidor , year VI ( 31 August 1798 ) . On 21 Germinal , year VII ( 10 April 1799 ) the Directory received special powers to meet the Austrian and Russia n invasions after the formation of the Second Coalition . The next day , a Military Committee , a Finance Committee and a Public Health Committee were established . On 7 Floreal ( 26 April ) an order was given to evacuate the Legislative Council . On 29 April 1799 , Austrian rule was restored and the Directory abolished . The treaty of alliance . Formally , the Cisalpine Republic was an independent state allied with France , but the treaty of alliance established the effective subalternity of the new republic to France . The French in fact had control over the local police , and left an army consisting of 25 , 000 Frenchmen , financed by the republic . The Cisalpines also to form another army of 35 , 000 of their own men to take part in French campaigns . On 4 March 1798 , the Directory presented this treaty to the Great Council for ratification . The council did not agree with the terms , and delayed taking a decision , but in the end the French general Berthier compelled acceptance by the members . The Seniors however refused it from the very beginning , as the new state was unable to finance the requested institutions . Berthier threatened to impose a military government , but was later replaced by general Brune . The latter , after replacing some Seniors and Juniors , achieved the signing of the treaty on 8 June . Relations with Switzerland . The new government aimed to unite all Italian lands into a single state . This fact created tensions with Switzerland , which included Italian - speaking areas south of the Alps . On 10 October 1797 , the French supported a revolt in Valtelline . The Cisalpine Republic ended up taking control of Campione d ' Italia and the Valtellina from Grisons and joined the republic . A Cisalpine attempt to conquer Lugano by surprise failed in 1797 . The second republic . The republic was dissolved after the defeat of France by the Second Coalition in April 1799 . It was occupied by General Suvorov ' s Russian and Austrian forces , which appointed a provisional administration led by the Imperial Commission of the Mantuan Count Luigi Cocastelli . They departed only on 30 May 1800 , just few days before Napoleon won the Battle of Marengo . The Cisalpine Republic was restored by Napoleon on 15 Prairial , year VIII ( 4 June 1800 ) . On 28 Prairial ( 17 June ) the First Consul appointed an Extraordinary Commission of Government of nine members , and a legislative " Consulta " : the final list of the executive and legislative institutions was published on 5 Messidor ( 24 June ) . On 16 Messidor ( 6 July ) all the acts issued during the Austrian occupation were annulled , and afterwards the tricolour flag was restored . Napoleon ' s new victories gave him the possibility to stabilize the political situation in all of northern Italy . On 3 Vendemiaire , year IX ( 25 September ) , the powers of the Extraordinary Commission were concentrated in the hands of a more restricted Committee of Government , composed of three members : Giovan Battista Sommariva , Sigismondo Ruga and Francesco Visconti , reflecting the institution of the French Consulate . On 21 Vendemiaire ( 13 October ) , owing to the refusal of the escaped King Charles Emmanuel IV of Savoy to sign a treaty of peace settling the situation of the occupied Piedmont , Napoleon ordered the annexation of Novara to the republic , shifting its western border from Ticino to the Sesia River . After the surrender of Austria and the signing of the Treaty of Lunéville on 9 February 1801 , the territory of the republic was extended on the eastern side as well , placing the frontier with the Holy Roman Empire on the Adige River without the exceptions agreed in Campo Formio . On 23 Floreal ( 13 May ) , the territory of the republic was divided into 12 departments , adding Agogna ( Novara ) , restoring Lario and abolishing Adda - e - Oglio . On 21 Brumaire , year X ( 12 November ) an Extraordinary Cisalpine Consulta was summoned in Lyon . In January 1802 , the Consulta decided to change the name of the State to the Italian Republic , when Napoleon had himself elected president , on 24 January , on the advice of Talleyrand . Two days later , in a scene officially commemorated by Monsiau , Bonaparte appeared in the Collège de la Trinité of Lyon , attended by Murat , Berthier , Louis Bonaparte , Hortense and Joséphine de Beauharnais , and heard the assembled notables proclaim the Italian Republic . On 21 Pluviose ( 10 February ) the new constitutional government was proclaimed in Milan by Sommariva and Ruga . The same day , the Gregorian calendar was restored .