Battle of Faenza

Date	3 or 4 February 1797
Location	Castel Bolognese near Faenza, Italy
Result	French victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

Strength

9,000

7,000

Casualties and losses

100

2,000, 14 guns

The Battle of Faenza or Battle of Castel Bolognese on 3 or 4 February 1797 saw a 7,000-man force from the Papal States commanded by Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi face a 9,000-strong French corps under Claude Victor-Perrin. The veteran French troops decisively defeated the Papal army, inflicting disproportionate casualties. The town of Castel Bolognese is located on the banks of the Senio River 40 kilometres (25 mi) southeast of Bologna. The city of Faenza is nearby. The action took place during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.

The Siege of Mantua came to an end on 2 February 1797, when Austrian Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigismund von Würmser capitulated to the army of General of Division Napoleon Bonaparte. Only 16,000 members of the garrison were capable of marching out as prisoners of war. Leaving General of Division Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier to handle the surrender, Bonaparte invaded the Romagna, part of the Papal States. The Papal army was led by Austrian Feldmarschall-Leutnant Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi, a veteran of the Seven Years' War. Colli had served in the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from 1793 to 1796 and had faced Bonaparte in the Montenotte Campaign. He was an intelligent and capable officer, but sometimes had to be carried on a stretcher due to old wounds.