 The religious policies of the Ligurian Republic were those of the French Republic, with regard to the reorganization of religion as an organ of the State.In May 1800 the Austrian general Melas occupied Albenga and drove out the French garrison; but at the beginning of June French troops returned and reinstalled the Napoleonic republican regime.Bishop Paolo Maggiolo (1791–1802) was forced by a violent mob to flee from his cathedral, finding refuge in the parish of Bardino Vecchio, where he died and was buried.