Council of Italy

The Council of Italy, officially the Royal and Supreme Council of Italy (Spanish: Real y Supremo Consejo de Italia, Italian: Reale e Supremo Consiglio d'Italia), was a ruling body and key part of the government of the Spanish Empire in Europe, second only to the monarch himself.

Local councils and viceroys (in Naples and Palermo) or governors (in Milan) controlled the internal affairs of these lands.

In an effort to better coordinate Spanish rule in Italy, Philip II decided to separate the Italian states from the Council of Aragon in 1556.

Thus, Naples, Sicily and Milan were incorporated into the newly created Council of Italy and were represented by two regents each (one Castilian, one native-born).

The Kingdom of Sardinia remained under the jurisdiction of the Council of Aragon, as demanded and claimed by its own Stamenti on the basis of political, religious, geographical, linguistic and anthropological affinities,[1][2] until its eventual transfer to Austria and later to the House of Savoy.