Antoine Christophe Saliceti (baptised in the name ofAntonio Cristoforo Saliceti:Antoniu Cristufaru Saliceti inCorsican; 26 August 1757 – 23 December 1809) was a French politician and diplomat of theRevolution andFirst Empire.
He was born a member of aPiacentine family inSaliceto, Haute-Corse. He was born during the era of theCorsican Republic, but after theConquest of Corsica the island became French. After studying law inTuscany, he became a lawyer at the upper council ofBastia, and was elected deputy of theThird Estate to the FrenchEstates-General of 1789.[1]
As deputy to theNational Convention, Saliceti became aMontagnard and on 15 January 1793 voted for the death ofKingLouis XVI, and was sent to Corsica on mission to overseePasquale Paoli and enforce theReign of Terror; however, he was compelled to withdraw toProvence, where he took part in repressing the revolts atMarseille andToulon. During this time he met and promoted his compatriotNapoleon Bonaparte.[1]
On account of his friendship withMaximilien Robespierre, Saliceti was denounced by theThermidorian Reaction and was saved only by theamnesty of theFrench Directory. In 1796 Saliceti wascommissioned to organize theFrench Revolutionary Army in theItalian Peninsula, and the twodépartements into which Corsica had been divided after its recapture. Saliceti also became deputy to theCouncil of the Five Hundred, and served the Directory in missions to theLigurian Republic.[1] Saliceti represented France during the negotiations with thePapal States regarding theArmistice of Bologna.[2]
Although an adversary of Napoleon's18 Brumaire Coup which created theConsulate (9 November 1799), he was kept by Napoleon as his representative to the Republic ofLucca (1801–1802) and Liguria (1805), engineering the territory'sannexation to the Empire. In 1806, he followedJoseph Bonaparte to theKingdom of Naples, where Joseph had been imposed asKing, and served as minister of police and of war. Saliceti died inNaples in mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned.[1]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Saliceti, Antoine Christophe".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 24 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 68.