Though irregular, his action was to some extent justified by the depletion of the secret service fund under Giolitti and by the abnormal circumstances prevailing in 1893-1894, when he had been obliged to quell the insurrections in Sicily and Massa-Carrara.
It consists of eight provinces, Arezzo, Firenze (Florence), Grosseto, Livorno (Leghorn), Lucca, Massa-Carrara, Pisa and Siena, and has an area of 9304 sq.