Principality of Elba
The Principality of Elba was a non-hereditary monarchy established on the Mediterranean island of Elba following the Treaty of [Fontainebleau (1814)|Treaty of Fontainebleau] on 11 April 1814. It lasted less than a year, and its only head was Napoleon Bonaparte, who returned to rule in France before his ultimate defeat and the dissolution of the principality.
Formation
Sovereignty over the island, which until then had been part of the French département of Méditerranée, was given to Napoleon I of France after his abdication following the War of the Sixth Coalition. Article 3 of the treaty stipulated that Elba was to be "an independent principality possessed by him in complete sovereignty and as personal property". His rule was to persist until his death, at which point control of the principality would pass to Tuscany. The former Emperor of the French was also granted a stipend of two million francs per year to be paid by France.Napoleon's rule
In his few months on Elba, as well as creating a small navy and army, Napoleon developed the island's iron mines, oversaw the construction of new roads, issued decrees on modern agricultural methods, and overhauled the island's legal and educational system.Napoleon's residence
The Villa Napoleonica is one of the two residences occupied in Portoferraio by Napoleon Bonaparte during his exile on the Island of Elba, where it was his summer residence. The second, the Palazzina dei Mulini, is located in the historic center of the town of Portoferraio, 3.5 km northeast of San Martino.In 1839, Anatole Demidoff, a Russian industrialist and patron, a great admirer of Napoleon and husband of a niece of the emperor, Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, had the Florentine architect Niccolò Matas build the Demidoff Gallery at the foot of the original building.