The Stato dei Presidi was a client state

Client state

Client state is one of several terms used to describe the economic, political and/or military subordination of one state to a more powerful state in international affairs...

 of the Kingdom of Spain situated in central Italy, which included the cities of Orbetello

Orbetello

Orbetello is a town and comune in the province of Grosseto , Italy. It is located c. 35 km south of Grosseto, on the eponymous lagoon, which is home to an important Natural Reserve.-History:...

, Porto Ercole, Porto Santo Stefano

Porto Santo Stefano

Porto Santo Stefano is located in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, in the Tuscany region of Italy. It is one of the 2 major towns that form the townships along with Porto Ercole.-Position:...

, Talamone

Talamone

Talamone is a town in Tuscany, central Italy, administratively a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, province of Grosseto, in the Tuscan Maremma....

, Ansedonia

Ansedonia

Ansedonia is a frazione of the comune of Orbetello, in the province of Grosseto, southern Tuscany .It is a renowned tourist resort. The village lies near the ruins of the ancient Roman town of Cosa.-External links:*...

 and Porto Longone, in what is now southern Tuscany

Tuscany

Tuscany is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence ....

. Porto Longone included a fortified area of Elba

Elba

Elba is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia...

 Island.

The State of Presidi was created by King Philip II of Spain

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 in 1557 out of territories once belonging to the Republic of Siena

Republic of Siena

The Republic of Siena , was a state originating from the city of Siena in Tuscany, Central Italy.It existed for over four hundreds years, from the late 11th century until the year 1555, when was defeated by the rival Duchy of Florence in alliance with the Spanish crown...

, after the latter had been annexed to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany

Grand Duchy of Tuscany

The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was a central Italian monarchy that existed, with interruptions, from 1569 to 1859, replacing the Duchy of Florence. The grand duchy's capital was Florence...

 by Cosimo I de' Medici.

The State of Presidi was governed directly by Spain, as part of the Kingdom of Naples

Kingdom of Naples

The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...

. It was merged to the land of Ferdinand IV of Naples with the duchy of Sora

Duchy of Sora

The Duchy of Sora was a semi-independent state in Italy, created in 1443 by King Alfonso I of Naples and dissolved in 1796. It occupied the south-eastern part of what is today Lazio, bordering what is now Abruzzo...

 in 1796. It followed the history of the latter until, in 1800, Napoleon disbanded it and annexed it to the newly formed Kingdom of Etruria

Kingdom of Etruria

The Kingdom of Etruria was a kingdom comprising the larger part of Tuscany which existed between 1801 and 1807. It took its name from Etruria, the old Roman name for the land of the Etruscans.It was created by the Treaty of Aranjuez, signed on 21 March 1801...

. Later the Congress of Vienna

Congress of Vienna

The Congress of Vienna was a conference of ambassadors of European states chaired by Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, and held in Vienna from September, 1814 to June, 1815. The objective of the Congress was to settle the many issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars,...

 (1815) gave its former territories to Tuscany, to which they belonged until the Unification of Italy.