Digitized and accessible to all the letters of Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi

Digitized letters of Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi: thanks to a memorandum of understanding between the president of the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, Marcello Bertocchini, and the president of the Fondation Napoléon, Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, will be accessible to all from the website of the Fondation Napoléon in Paris, the world’s largest Napoleonic institution, the correspondence of the Princess of Lucca, Napoleon’s sister, during her years of city government, purchased in November 2021 by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca and the subject of the exhibition The Letters of Elisa: How the Princess of Lucca governed, curated by Roberta Martinelli and set up in April 2023 in the fresco hall of the San Micheletto complex.

It consists of 233 letters ranging from August 1807 to February 1813 between Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi and various members of the Napoleonic government. The correspondence presents a cross-section of the political and social life of the early nineteenth century because of the richness of the topics addressed, capable of illustrating the most varied dynamics of an era considered a crucial passage in the formation of modern society.

The correspondence has been personally transcribed by Bernard Chevallier, honorary director of the recently deceased Musées Nationaux de Malmaison et Bois-Préau, and catalogued by Monica Guarraccino, and will enrich the “Napoleonica Les Archives” library.

“The Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca purchased these documents to contribute to their enhancement in the context of Napoleonic studies in Italy and Lucca in particular,” said President Marcello Bertocchini. “We therefore welcome this opportunity to collaborate with the most important institution on the subject as an important and fundamental step in this journey that has seen us support initiatives related to the figure of Elisa for years.”

“The Fondation Napoléon encourages and supports research related to the historical periods of the First and Second Empires in France. This Memorandum of Understanding is another proof of the solid and fruitful partnership, which has already existed for 20 years, with Lucca for its Napoleonic aspects and which corresponds perfectly to the objectives of both entities involved,” stressed Victor-André Masséna, Prince d’Essling, president of Fondation Napoléon.

"The digitization of the Elisa papers is a decisive step for research on Elisa in Tuscany. Of course, the papers will find their place within the digital collection of Napoleonica les Archives. We are delighted to collaborate with the Fondazione Cassa Risparmio di Lucca and the Napoleon and Élisa Association," said Peter Hicks, head of international relations at the Paris-based foundation.

“There is very little material relating to the Lucca principality, and to Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi in particular, that can be traced on the market, which further validates the acquisition by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Lucca, of the letters as well as the portrait of Elisa Bonaparte, as does the stipulation of this memorandum of understanding that makes the correspondence available to the public, as well as highlighting how much about Elisa’s historical character there is still to be investigated and studied,” concluded Roberta Martinelli, president of the Napoleon and Elisa Association: From Paris to Tuscany, which has been studying the Napoleonic period in Lucca for years. “Prominent, in fact, among the documents covered by the protocol is the correspondence with Minister Regnault, considered Napoleon’s gray eminence.”

Image: Marie Guillelmine Benoist, Portrait of Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi (1806)

Digitized and accessible to all the letters of Elisa Bonaparte Baciocchi

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