County of Nice

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County of Nice flag

County of Nice coat of arms

The County of Nice or Niçard Country (French: Comté de Nice / Pays Niçois, Italian: Contea di Nizza / Paese Nizzardo, Niçard Occitan: Comtat de Niça / País Niçard) is a historical region of Occitania (and France since 1860), located in the South-Eastern part, around the city of Nice.

Its territory lies between the Mediterranean Sea (Côte d'Azur), Var River and the southernmost crest of the Alps. It was initially a part of the ancient County of Provence, then it became in 1388 a part of the Duchy of Savoy (that became the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1720). The region received the name County of Nice (Contea di Nizza) during the fifteenth century, after being integrated into Savoy. From 1388 to 1861 the history of the County of Nice was fully integrated with the history of Italy. Its historical capital city is Nice (Nizza in Italian).

It was included in France in 1860, during the Italian wars of Independence, against the wish of Giuseppe Garibaldi (born in Nizza). He strongly opposed the cession of the Nizzardo to France (arguing that was not done with "universal" vote) and in 1866 there were even popular riots in the city, promoted by "Garibaldini" in favor of the unification of Nice to Italy.

The Italian Irredentism has claimed the County because of the genoese dialect of the coastal area; during WWII Nizza was included administratively in the Kingdom of Italy.

Since 1861 the County has matched with the Arrondissement of Nice that is the biggest part of the the Alpes-Maritimes department, in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Nevertheless the name County of Nice is still used today for this cultural and historical region that has kept its whole personality.

Population: 506,694 inhabitants (1999)

Image:Contea di Nizza.JPG

A map of the County of Nice (Nizzardo in Italian) showing the area of the Kingdom of Savoia annexed in 1860 to France (light brown) and to Italy (yellow). The red area was already part of France before 1860.

[edit] Sources

Amicucci, Ermanno. Nizza e l’Italia. Mondadori Editore. Milano, 1939.
Barelli Hervé, Rocca Roger. Histoire de l'identité niçoise, Nice: Serre, 1995. ISBN 2-84410-223-4