State of the Presidi
The lordship was restored to Iacopo, with Cosimo retaining the Elban fortress of Portoferraio and Philip reserving the right to garrison the cities of Piombino and Scarlino and fortify the island of Elba.
[5] With the conflict over Piombino resolved, on 3 July 1557 Siena and its contado, less the coastal fortresses, were granted in fief[b] to Cosimo, in return for which the duke cancelled all debts owed by Philip II or Charles.
[4] Control of the Presidi allowed the Spanish to monitor maritime traffic between Genoa, an important ally of Spain, and Naples, since in the 16th century ships kept close to the coast.
[1] In 1587 Cosimo's successor, Francesco, was offering Philip II a million gold pieces for just one of the Presidi, but the king of Spain refused on the grounds that he had no other ports between Catalonia and Naples.
[7] In the 16th century, the Presidi also provided pasture for Tuscan shepherds, who brought their flocks of sheep to the warm coastal grazing lands during the winter.
[9] The Prince of Piombino,[e] who shared territorial sovereignty over Elba with the Duke of Tuscany, ceded his authority over the thirteen square kilometres of Porto Longone to the Spanish.
[6] From May to July 1646, Orbetello successfully resisted a siege by troops sent by the French royal minister Mazarin in an attempt to dislodge the Spaniards from Italy.
[12] At the start of the Messina revolt in 1672, the viceroy dispatched 4,600 infantry and 1,200 cavalry to the Presidi and in May 1677 his successor sent 300 men to strengthen the garrison at Porto Longone.
[13] In 1678, Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany sought to take advantage of the Messina War to negotiate the purchase of the Presidi, or at least the exchange of Orbetello for Portoferraio.
The chief opponent of that peace was Elisabeth Farnese, queen of Philip V of Spain, who hoped to create an Italian principality for her son.
Article 5 of the alliance proposed to grant to Elisabeth Farnese's eldest son, Don Carlos, the future Charles III of Spain, the Grand Duchy of Tuscany with Porto Longone when the ruling House of Medici died out, as it was soon expected to.
[2] In a draft treaty submitted by Spain on 5 April 1724, Philip would have received the return of the coastal Presidi (Article 4), but this demand was roundly mocked.
[17] This situation was revised in 1733 by the Treaty of Turin (26 September), in which France and Sardinia allied themselves against the Holy Roman Empire and agreed that Don Carlos should receive the Presidi together with the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.
[22] On 28 March, following the defeat of his armies by the French during the War of the Second Coalition, King Ferdinand IV of Naples agreed, as part of the general settlement of the war, to cede the State of the Presidi, his rights on Elba (Porto Longone) and his claimed sovereignty over the Principality of Piombino to France on the understanding that they would be annexed to Tuscany to form the new Kingdom of Etruria.
[3] Under the Spanish, the Neapolitan treasury paid for the upkeep of the Presidi, rotating troops in and out and reinforcing the garrisons in times of danger.
An inspector (veditore) was in charge of financing work on the fortifications and the wages of the garrisons, as well as supervising leaves of absence and supplying artillery and munitions.
