THE BOURBONS AND THE KINGDOM OF THE TWO SICILIES

1734 - 1860

Palermo - Catania

In 1734-35 Charles of Bourbon, ordered by his father Phillip V, entered from Messina and conquered the island, which was unified with Naples into one kingdom until 1860. The Spanish dynasty elected a viceroy which ruled from Palermo; the most important viceroys were Domenico Caracciolo di Villamaina (whose government was from 1781 to 1786) who abolished the Inquisition and implemented laws against the barons, and Francesco D'Aquino who ended the harassments and the “personal servers”. The first king was Charles III who tried to promote the trade exchanges and decrease the fiscal pressure on the Sicilian people. His son Ferdinand IV of Naples (Ferdinand III of Sicily) succeeded him in 1759. Sicily was the seat of the Borbounian Court during the age of the French and Napoleon fight; the revolutionary ideas were punished to death. In 1798 Ferdinand of Bourbon was forced to leave Naples after the outbreak of the Republican revolt, taking refuge in Sicily which he later left heading back to Naples in 1806 (helped by the Admiral H. Nelson). Sicily was a strategic place against the Napoleon’s army. The island was hostile to the Neapolitan dominion but not to its dynasty and in 1812, supported by Lord Bentick, it was given the Constitution, issued on the English model by Paolo Balsamo and expression of the feudal aristocracy. However, on 8 December 1816, with the Restoration, it was abolished and the island was incorporated in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ruled by a central government. Thereafter the separatist risings (1820 / 1837)followed  and the insurrection in 1848 spread like wildfire from Palermo all over Sicily, forcing the bourbonian troops to quit the island quickly: a temporary government (led by Ruggero Settimo) was elected and a new liberal-democratic constitution was written. Ferdinand II of Bourbon was substituted by Alberto Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Genoa. The battle became harsh: the bourbonian troops moved back to Sicily whose resistance ceased after the fall of Palermo, Ferdinand II provided a new statute in 1849 which was refused  and the island was subdued. Ten years later (1859) he died and his son Francis II of Bourbon succeeded him.