Ernest Arrighi de Casanova, son of a Corsican general who was a cousin of Napoleon I, was Minister of the Interior in 1859, the year Napoleon III left to command in person the war France was waging in Italy against Austria. For six months his task was not to govern: he wrote to the prefects, the state's representatives in each department, so that the country should not fret at knowing its emperor under fire.
The story
Born in Paris on 26 September 1814, he was the son of General Jean-Thomas Arrighi de Casanova, first Duke of Padua and a Corsican cousin of the Bonapartes. He came out of the École Polytechnique: the family served the Empire, but he learned a trade first.
The Second Empire opened the administration to him: he was prefect of Seine-et-Oise, then made a senator in 1853.
From May to November 1859 he was Minister of the Interior. Napoleon III was commanding the army of Italy in person; Paris needed a safe pair of hands to keep the house. That same year he received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour.
The fall of the regime in 1870 ended his Paris career. It was Corsica that sent him back to the Chamber: he sat as its deputy from 1876 to 1881.
He died in Paris on 28 March 1888 and lies in Division 26, on an inner path, first line. His wife, born Marie Marguerite Bruat, who died at Lourdes in 1928, joined him there forty years later.
On site, do not miss
Read the wife's two dates: born Bruat, she died in Lourdes in 1928, forty years after her husband. The grave thus spans a whole century, from the Empire to the inter-war years.
Visitors' questions
Where is Ernest Arrighi de Casanova's grave?
In Division 26, on an inner path, first row. The Division is also that of the chemist Gay-Lussac and the writer Alphonse Daudet. His wife, born Marie Marguerite Bruat and died at Lourdes in 1928, rests with him.
Alphonse DaudetHow long was he Minister of the Interior?
Six months, from 5 May to 1 November 1859. Napoleon III was then commanding the army in Italy and leaving Paris in safe hands. Arrighi de Casanova received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour that same year.
Charles de MornyWhat is the duchy of Padua?
A title created by Napoleon I for General Jean-Thomas Arrighi de Casanova, his Corsican cousin. Ernest was the second to bear it: one of those imperial titles that outlived the regime which had made them.
Joachim MuratWhy did Corsica elect him a deputy?
Because his family came from the island and the name still carried weight there. After the fall of the Empire in 1870, Corsica sent him back to the Chamber: he sat there from 1876 to 1881, seventeen years after serving as Napoleon III's Minister of the Interior.
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