Administrative subdivisions of the Papal States from 1816 to 1870

The delegations as they existed in 1859

Bologna

Ferrara

Forlì

Ravenna

Ancona

Ascoli

Camerino

Fermo

Macerata

Pesaro

Urbino

Perugia

Rieti

Spoleto

Benevento

Frosinone

Velletri

Rome

Civitavecchia

Orvieto

Viterbo

Between the Congress of Vienna (1815) and the capture of Rome (1870), the Papal State was subdivided geographically into 17 apostolic delegations (delegazioni apostoliche) for administrative purposes. These were instituted by Pope Pius VII in a motu proprio of 6 July 1816: "Quando per ammirabile disposizione".^[a]

A delegation was known as a legation (legazione) when governed by a cardinal. The four northernmost delegations—Bologna, Ferrara, Forlì and Ravenna, which comprised the region known as the Romagne (plural of Romagna)—were regularly governed by cardinals. Thus, the term "Legations" or Papal Legations (Legazioni pontificie), when used on its own, often refers to the Romagne. In an administrative reform of 1850, Pius IX grouped the delegations into five larger legations. The four original legations were joined into the legation of the Romagne. In 1859, the Kingdom of Sardinia invaded the Papal State and set up a military government, the United Provinces of Central Italy, that included the Romagne. Following a plebiscite, the Romagne were formally annexed to Sardinia in 1860.
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