The kingdom was formed when theKingdom of Sicily merged with theKingdom of Naples, which was officially also known as the Kingdom of Sicily. Since both kingdoms were named Sicily, they were collectively known as the "Two Sicilies" (Utraque Sicilia, literally "both Sicilies"), and the unified kingdom adopted this name. The king of the Two Sicilies wasoverthrown byGiuseppe Garibaldi in 1860, after which the people voted in aplebiscite to join theKingdom of Sardinia. The annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies completed the first phase of Italian unification, and the newKingdom of Italy was proclaimed in 1861.
The Two Sicilies were heavily agricultural, like other Italian states.[4]
The name "Two Sicilies" originated from the partition of the medievalKingdom of Sicily. Until 1285, the island ofSicily and theMezzogiorno were constituent parts of the Kingdom of Sicily. As a result of theWar of the Sicilian Vespers (1282–1302),[5] the King of Sicily lost the Island of Sicily (also called Trinacria) to theCrown of Aragon, but remained ruler over the peninsular part of the realm.
Although his territory became known unofficially as theKingdom of Naples, he and his successors never gave up the title King of Sicily and still officially referred to their realm as the Kingdom of Sicily. At the same time, the Aragonese rulers of the Island of Sicily also called their realm the Kingdom of Sicily. Thus, there were two kingdoms called Sicily:[5] hence, when they were reunited, the result was named the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
From 1061 onwards,Norman warriors conquered the island of Sicily, which had been ruled by theSaracens since 827. The conquerorRoger I became Count of Sicily andCalabria. His sonRoger II also inherited the Duchy ofApulia. In 1131 this became the Kingdom of Sicily. Through further conquests, Roger II was able to expand his sphere of influence over all of Lower Italy as far as thePapal States.
The previously Norman Kingdom of Sicily fell to theStauferHenry VI, who had marriedConstance of Sicily in 1186, the daughter of the Norman King Roger II of Sicily and aunt and heiress of the last Norman KingWilliam II. Competing counter kings from the Normanruling family were finally eliminated by military force. When Henry VI died unexpectedly in 1197 at the age of 32, Constance took over the rule of the Sicilian kingdom as regent for her son. He had been elected German King asFrederick II in 1196 at the age of two, but was no longer recognized as such after the death of his father. In 1212, at the instigation of the PopeInnocent III, he finally became German king, initially as an anti-king toOtto IV, and in 1220 he was crowned emperor. Frederick II (Frederick I of Sicily) rarely stayed on German soil, but ruled his empire from southern Italy. In contrast to the (Lombard-Tuscan)Kingdom of Italy north of thePapal States, the Kingdom of Sicily never became part of theHoly Roman Empire.
As a result of the escalating conflict between the Hohenstaufen dynasty and the papacy, the French princeCharles ofAnjou was elevated to the Sicilian throne by PopeClement IV in 1265. Charles took power in 1266 through his victory over the Hohenstaufen kingManfred, who had initially administered Sicily as regent for his underage and absent nephewConradin, but had then assumed the royal title himself. As the last Hohenstaufen to lay claim to the Sicilian throne and fight for it, Conradin wascaptured in 1268 and executed by his opponent in Naples. Unlike in Naples, which was the focus of Angevin rule, French rule on Sicily was abolished after just a few years by the popular uprising of 1282, theSicilian Vespers, which instead elevated Peter III ofAragon, a son-in-law of the Hohenstaufen king Manfred, to king of the island. The old Norman-Staufer kingdom was since then – despite mutual claims to power – effectively divided into the Aragonese Kingdom of Sicily and theKingdom of Naples ruled by the Angevins. In thePeace of Caltabellotta 1302, the Aragonese kingFrederick III of Sicily and the Angevin kingCharles II of Naples recognized each other's rule, but the ancient name "Trinacria" was chosen for the island, while the title "King of Sicily" remained associated with Neapolitan rule, so that there were now two kingdoms called Sicily.
A brief "reunification" took place from Sicily, when in 1442 the Aragonese-Sicilian kingAlfonso V also brought the Kingdom of Naples under his rule. With Alfonso's death, this southern Italian personal union dissolved again, since the Aragonese heir to the throne, John II (1458–1479), was only recognized in Sicily, but not in Naples, whereFerdinand (Ferrante, 1458–1494), an illegitimate son of Alfonso V, seized power in 1458. However, his descendants lost Naples in 1495, first to the French kingCharles VIII, who claimed the old Anjou throne rights for himself, and at the end of the wars triggered by this in 1501/04 to KingFerdinand V of Aragon and Sicily (1479–1516).
Due to the dynastic union in 1494 between theHabsburgs and the houses of Aragon and Castile, Naples and Sicily also fell toCharles V in 1516.
With the extinction of the Spanish Habsburgs in 1700, Naples and Sicily were caught up in the turmoil of theWar of the Spanish Succession. After initial rule by theBourbons, who now ruled in Spain,Central Italy was occupied byAustria in 1707/08, whoseHabsburg line also laid claim to the kingdom.
The peace treaties of 1713/14 (Utrecht/Rastatt) left theKingdom of Naples withAustria, but assigned the Kingdom of Sicily toVictor Amadeus of Savoy, who exchanged it with the Habsburgs in 1720 forSardinia. Since then, people have spoken of "Naples-Sicily".[6] Until 1735, the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were ruled by Austria.
In theWar of the Polish Succession the Austrians were harassed by Spanish troops who supported the claims of theDuke of Parma and Spanish InfanteCharles to Naples and Sicily; the Spanish were victorious atBitonto in 1734.
Infante Charles of the House of Bourbon ruled both Sicilies from 1735 to 1759, until he became King of Spain. He was the first king of Naples and Sicily in over 230 years to live and rule there personally. The center of power remained Naples, which was magnificently expanded by the new Bourbon kings, while Sicily retained a secondary and semi-colonial status. North of Naples, Charles began the construction of a baroque planned city in Caserta and planned to move the seat of government to the Palace of Caserta. He attempted to rebuild the relatively weak state with enlightened reforms directed particularly against the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.
When this assertive monarch became King of Spain in 1759, he had to cede his former empire to his younger sonFerdinand IV, who founded theBourbon-Sicily collateral line, because the Spanish crown could not be united with Naples-Sicily according to international treaties. This line was united with the Austrian Habsburgs through the marriage of Ferdinand IV andMaria Carolina of Austria, a daughter of EmpressMaria Theresa, on 12 May 1768. Initially dominated by the dual influence of the great powers Spain and Austria, Naples-Sicily – particularly in the course of theFrench Revolutionary Wars from 1792 onwards – became increasingly dependent on thenaval powerGreat Britain to defend itself against the new European superpower,France.
TheTreaty of Casalanza restoredFerdinand IV of Bourbon to the throne of Naples and the island of Sicily (where the constitution of 1812 virtually had disempowered him) was returned to him. In 1816 he annulled the constitution and Sicily became fully reintegrated into the new state, which was now officially called theRegno delle Due Sicilie (Kingdom of Two Sicilies).[7] Ferdinand IV became Ferdinand I.
A number of accomplishments under the administration of KingsJoseph andJoachim Murat, such as theCode Civil, the penal and commercial code, were kept (and extended to Sicily). In the mainland parts of the Kingdom, the power and influence of both nobility and clergy had been greatly reduced, though at the expense of law and order.Brigandage and the forceful occupation of lands were problems the restored Kingdom inherited from its predecessors.
TheVienna Congress had grantedAustria the right to station troops in the kingdom, and Austria, as well asRussia andPrussia, insisted that no written constitution was to be granted to the kingdom. In October 1815,Joachim Murat landed inCalabria, in an attempt to regain his kingdom. The government responded to acts of collaboration or of terrorism with severe repression and by June 1816 Murat's attempt had failed and the situation was under government control. However, the Neapolitan administration had changed from conciliatory to reactionary policies. The French novelistHenri de Stendhal, who visited Naples in 1817, called the kingdom "an absurd monarchy in the style ofPhilip II".[8]
As open political activity was suppressed, liberals organized themselves in secret societies, such as theCarbonari, an organization whose origins date back into theFrench period and which had been outlawed in 1816. In 1820 a revolution planned by Carbonari and their supporters, aimed at obtaining a written constitution (the Spanish constitution of 1812), did not work out as planned. Nevertheless, King Ferdinand felt compelled to grant the constitution sought by the liberals (13 July). That same month, a revolution broke out inPalermo, Sicily, but was quickly suppressed.[7] Rebels from Naples occupiedBenevento andPontecorvo, two enclaves belonging to thePapal States. At theCongress of Troppau (19 Nov.), theHoly Alliance (Metternich being the driving force) decided to intervene. On 23 February 1821, in front of 50,000 Austrian troops paraded outside his capital, King Ferdinand cancelled the constitution. An attempt at Neapolitan resistance to the Austrians by regular forces under GeneralGuglielmo Pepe, as well as by irregular rebel forces (Carbonari), was smashed and on 24 March 1821 Austrian forces entered the city ofNaples.
Political repression then only intensified. Lawlessness in the countryside was aggravated by the problem of administrative corruption. A coup attempted in 1828 and aimed at forcing the promulgation of a constitution was suppressed by Neapolitan troops (the Austrian troops had left the previous year). KingFrancis I (1825–1830) died after having visited Paris, where he witnessed the1830 revolution. In 1829 he had created the Royal Order of Merit (Royal Order of Francis I of the Two Sicilies).[9] His successorFerdinand II declared a political amnesty and undertook steps to stimulate the economy, including reduction of taxation. Eventually the city of Naples would be equipped with street lighting and in 1839 the railroad from Naples to Portici was put into operation, measures that were visible signs of progress. However, as to the railroad, the Church still objected to the construction of tunnels, because of their 'obscenity'.
In 1836 the kingdom was struck by acholera epidemic which killed 65,000 in Sicily alone. In the following years the Neapolitan countryside saw sporadic local insurrections. In the 1840s, clandestine political pamphlets circulated, evading censorship. Moreover, in September 1847 an uprising saw insurrectionists crossing from mainland Calabria over to Sicily before government forces were able to suppress them. On 12 January 1848, an openrebellion began in Palermo and demands were made for the reintroduction of the 1812 constitution.[10] King Ferdinand II appointed a liberal prime minister, broke off diplomatic relations with Austria and even declared war on the latter (7 April). Although revolutionaries who had risen in several mainland cities outside Naples shortly after the Sicilians approved of the new measures (April 1848), Sicily continued with her revolution. Faced with these differing reactions to his moves, King Ferdinand, using the Swiss Guard, took the initiative and ordered the suppression of the revolution in Naples (15 May) and by July the mainland was again under royal control and by September, alsoMessina. Palermo, the revolutionaries' capital and last stronghold, fell to the government some months later on 15 May 1849.
Skirmish betweenbrigands and troops in the countryside
The Kingdom of Two Sicilies, over the course of 1848–1849, had been able to suppress the revolution and the attempt of Sicilian secession with their own forces, hired Swiss Guards included. The war declared on Austria in April 1848, under pressure of public sentiment, had been an event on paper only.
In 1849 King Ferdinand II was 39 years old.[11] He had begun as a reformer; the early death of his wife (1836), the frequency of political unrest, the extent and range of political expectations on the side of various groups that made up public opinion, had caused him to pursue a cautious, yet authoritarian policy aiming at the prevention of the occurrence of yet another rebellion. Over half of the delegates elected to parliament in the liberal atmosphere of 1848 were arrested or fled the country. The administration, in their treatment of political prisoners, in their observation of 'suspicious elements', violated the rights of the individual guaranteed by the constitution. Conditions were so bad that they caused international attention; in 1856 Britain and France demanded the release of the political prisoners. When this was rejected, both countries broke off diplomatic relations. The Kingdom pursued an economic policy ofprotectionism; the country's economy was mainly based on agriculture, the cities, especially Naples – with over 400,000 inhabitants, Italy's largest – "a center of consumption rather than of production" (Santore p. 163) and home to poverty most expressed by the masses ofLazzaroni, the poorest class.[12]
After visiting Naples in 1850,Gladstone began to support Neapolitan opponents of theBourbon rulers: his "support" consisted of a couple of letters that he sent from Naples to theParliament in London, describing the "awful conditions" of the Kingdom of Southern Italy and claiming that "it is the negation of God erected to a system of government". Gladstone's letters provoked sensitive reactions in the whole of Europe and helped to cause its diplomatic isolation before theinvasion and annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies by theKingdom of Sardinia, with the following foundation of modernItaly. Administratively, Naples and Sicily remained separate units; in 1858 the Neapolitan Postal Service issued her first postage stamps; that of Sicily followed in 1859.[13]
Until 1849, the political movement among the bourgeoisie, at times revolutionary, had been Neapolitan respectively Sicilian rather than Italian in its tendency; Sicily in 1848–1849 had striven for a higher degree of independence fromNaples rather than for a unified Italy. As public sentiment forItalian unification was rather low in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the country did not feature as an object of acquisition in the earlier plans of Piemont-Sardinia's prime ministerCavour. Only when Austria wasdefeated in 1859 and the unification of Northern Italy (except Venetia) was accomplished in 1860, didGiuseppe Garibaldi, at the head of theExpedition of the Thousand, launch hisinvasion of Sicily, with the connivance of Cavour (once in Sicily, many rallied to his colours); after a successful campaign in Sicily, he crossed over to the mainland and won thebattle of the Volturno with half of his army being local volunteers. KingFrancis II (since 1859) withdrew to the fortified port ofGaeta, where he surrendered and abdicated in February 1861 after theSiege of Gaeta. At theencounter of Teano,Garibaldi met KingVictor Emmanuel, transferring to him the conquered kingdom, the Two Sicilies were annexed into theKingdom of Sardinia, whichbecame the Kingdom of Italy in 1861.[14]
TheTeatro Reale di San Carlo in Naples, 1830, as rebuilt after the 1816 fire. It is the oldest continuously active venue for opera in the world.[15][16]
TheReal Teatro di San Carlo was commissioned by the Bourbon KingCharles VII of Naples who wanted to grant Naples a new and larger theatre to replace the old, dilapidated, and too-smallTeatro San Bartolomeo of 1621. Which had served the city well, especially afterScarlatti had moved there in 1682 and had begun to create an important opera centre which existed well into the 1700s.[17] Thus, the San Carlo was inaugurated on 4 November 1737, the king'sname day, with the performance ofDomenico Sarro's operaAchille in Sciro and much admired for its architecture the San Carlo was now the biggest opera house in the world.[18]
View of the interior, with the royal box
On 13 February 1816[19] a fire broke out during a dress-rehearsal for a ballet performance and quickly spread to destroy a part of the building. On the orders of King Ferdinand I, who used the services ofAntonio Niccolini, to rebuild the opera house within ten months as a traditional horseshoe-shaped auditorium with 1,444 seats, and a proscenium, 33.5m wide and 30m high. The stage was 34.5m deep. Niccolini embellished in the inner of the bas-relief depicting "Time and the Hour".Stendhal attended the second night of the inauguration and wrote: "There is nothing in all Europe, I won't say comparable to this theatre, but which gives the slightest idea of what it is like..., it dazzles the eyes, it enraptures the soul...".
The kingdom had a large population: its capital Naples was the biggest city in Italy, at least three times as large as any other contemporaryItalian state. At its peak, the kingdom had a military with 100,000 soldiers strong, and a largebureaucracy.[29] Naples was the largest city in the kingdom and the third largest city in Europe. The second largest city, Palermo, was the third largest in Italy.[30] In the 1800s, the population rose from about five to seven million.[31] It held approximately 36% of Italy's population around 1850.[32]
Because the kingdom did not establish a statistical department until after 1848,[33] most population statistics before that year are based on estimates and on censuses that were thought by contemporaries to be inaccurate.[22]
A major problem was the distribution of land property: most of it concentrated in the hands of a few families, thelanded nobility.[34] The villages housed a large ruralproletariat, desperately poor and dependent on the landlords for work.[34] The kingdom's few cities had little industry,[35] thus not providing the outlet for excess rural population found in northern Italy, France or Germany. The figures above show that the population of the countryside rose at a faster rate than that of the city of Naples herself: rather unusual for a time when much of Europe was experiencing the Industrial Revolution.
Contadini from theNeapolitan countryside by Filippo Palazzi, 1840
As registered in the 1827 census,[36] for theNeapolitan (continental) part of the kingdom, 1,475,314 of the male population were listed ashusbandmen, which traditionally consisted of three classes:
theBorgesi (yeomanry),
theInquilani (small-farmers) and
theContadini (peasantry)
along with 65,225 listed asshepherds. Wheat, wine, olive oil and cotton were the chief products. Annual production, as recorded in 1844, was 67 million liters ofolive oil largely produced inApulia and Calabria and loaded for export atGallipoli along with 191 million liters ofwine that were for the most part consumed domestically. On the island of Sicily, in 1839, due to less arable lands, the output was much smaller than on the mainland, but about 115,000 acres (47,000 hectares) ofvineyards and about 260,000 acres (105,000 hectares) oforchards, mainly fig, orange and citrus, were cultivated.
One of the most important industrial complexes in the kingdom was theshipyard ofCastellammare di Stabia, which employed 1800 workers. The engineering factory ofPietrarsa was the largest industrial plant in the Italian peninsula,[37] producing tools,cannons, rails, andlocomotives. The complex also included a school for train drivers and naval engineers, and, thanks to this school, the kingdom was able to replace the English personnel who had been necessary until then. The firststeamboat withscrew propulsion known in Italy was theGiglio delle Onde, with mail delivery and passenger transport purposes after 1847.[38]
The kingdom maintained a large sulfur mining industry. Inthe increasingly industrialized Great Britain, with the repeal oftariffs on salt in 1824, demand for sulfur from Sicily surged. The growing British control and exploitation of the mining, refining, and transportation of sulfur, combined with the failure of this lucrative export to transform Sicily's backward and impoverished economy, led to the 'Sulfur Crisis' of 1840. This was precipitated when King Ferdinand II granted a monopoly of the sulfur industry to a French company, in violation of an 1816 trade agreement with Britain. A peaceful solution was eventually negotiated by France.[39][40]
The Inauguration of theNaples–Portici railway, 1840, the first Italian railway lineTheReal Ferdinando Bridge finished in 1832 was the first iron catenary suspension bridge built in Italy, and one of the earliest in continental Europe
With all of its major cities boasting ports,[41] transport and trade in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was most efficiently conducted by sea. The kingdom possessed the largest merchant fleet in the Mediterranean. Urban road conditions, compared to Northern Italy, did not comply with the best European standards;[42] by 1839, the main streets of Naples were gas-lit. Efforts were made to tackle the tough mountainous terrain; Ferdinand II built the cliff-top road along the Sorrentine peninsula. Road conditions in the interior and hinterland areas of the kingdom made internal trade difficult.
The kingdom achieved several scientific and technological accomplishments, such as the first steamboat in the Mediterranean Sea (1818),[43][44] built in the shipyard of Stanislao Filosa at the Vigliena dock, near Naples,[45] the first railway in the Italian peninsula (1839), whichconnected Naples to Portici,[46] and the first iron-suspension bridge (theReal Ferdinando Bridge) in Italy.[47][48] However, until the Italian unification, the railway development was highly limited. In the year 1859, the kingdom had only 99 kilometers of rail, compared to the 850 kilometers ofPiedmont.[49] Other achievements included the first volcano observatory in the world,l'Osservatorio Vesuviano (1841).[50][51] The rails for the first Italian railways were built inMongiana, Calabria, as well. All the rails of the old railways that went from the south to as far asBologna were built in Mongiana.[52]
The kingdom was home to three universities namely those inNaples founded in 1224,Catania founded in 1434 andPalermo founded in 1806. Also in Naples, established byMatteo Ripa in 1732, was theCollegio dei Cinesi today theUniversity of Naples "L'Orientale" teachingSinology andOriental studies. Despite these institutions of higher learning the kingdom however had no obligation for school attendance nor a recognizable school system. Clerics could inspect schools and had a veto power over appointments of teachers who were for the most part from the clergy anyhow. In 1859, for a population of 9 million inhabitants, there were only 2,010 primary schools with 67,428 pupils and 3,171 teachers.[53] At the time of unification theliteracy rate was just 14.4% in 1861.
The conditions of the time in terms of social expenditure andpublic hygiene are mainly known today from the writings of the historian and journalist Raffaele De Cesare. It is well known that public hygiene conditions in the regions of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies were very poor, especially in the central and rural regions. Most small municipalities had no sewers, and had an inadequate water supply due to the lack of public investment in the construction of pipes, which also meant that most private houses had no toilets. Paved roads were rare, except in the area around Naples or on the main roads of the country, and they were often flooded and have many potholes.
Moreover, most rural inhabitants often lived in small old towns which, due to lack of social expenditure, became unhealthy, allowing manyinfectious diseases to spread rapidly. While the municipal administration had few economic means to remedy the situation, the gentry often had whole sections of streets paved in front of the entrances of their homes.
^Thomson, D. W. (April 1995). "Prelude to the Sulphur War of 1840: The Neapolitan Perspective".European History Quarterly.25 (2):163–180.doi:10.1177/026569149502500201.S2CID145807900.
^De Lucia, Maddalena; Ottaiano, Mena; Limoncelli, Bianca; Parlato, Luigi; Scala, Omar; Siviglia, Vittoria (2010). "The Museum of Vesuvius Observatory and its public. Years 2005–2008".EGUGA: 2942.Bibcode:2010EGUGA..12.2942D.
^Sandra Chistolini (2001).Comparazione e sperimentazione in pedagogia (in Italian). Milan: Franco Angeli. p. 46..
^Goodwin, John (1842). "Progress of the Two Sicilies Under the Spanish Bourbons, from the Year 1734-35 to 1840".Journal of the Statistical Society of London.5 (1):47–73.doi:10.2307/2337950.ISSN0959-5341.JSTOR2337950.
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Mendola, Louis.The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 1734–1861 (2019)
Petrusewicz, Marta. "Before the Southern Question: 'Native' Ideas on Backwardness and Remedies in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, 1815–1849." inItaly's 'Southern Question' (Oxford: Berg, 1998) pp: 27–50.
Pinto, Carmine (2013). "The 1860 disciplined Revolution. The Collapse of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies".Contemporanea.16 (1):39–68.doi:10.1409/44161.ISSN1127-3070.
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