The Kingdom of Two Sicilies

We were recently in and around Naples. Inevitably you learn about local history, and not only Pompei and Herculaneum. And so you learn that in the first part of the 19th century, Naples was the capital of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.

A quick look at the map will confirm two facts you probably already knew: Naples isn't in Sicily (either of them), and there is only one Sicily. So, why was there a Kingdom of Two Sicilies, and why was Naples the capital?

And thus begins a long descent into Wikipedia and Italian history - although Italy, as a country, didn't exist until 1861. Which, not by coincidence, was the end of the Kingdom, whose existence lasted just 34 years from 1816.

It all started in the year 999, when Norman pilgrims returning from Jerusalem happened to be staying with Prince Guaimar III in Salerno, south of Naples. While they were there, the city was attacked by Saracens. The Normans, who were made of tougher stuff than the locals, ridiculed and attacked the besiegers, in an episode reminiscent of John Cleese in Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Yes, this is the same Normans who a few years later invaded England, winning the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and placing England under Norman control for the next couple of centuries. They were evidently a pretty convincing bunch in battle. It's a long way from Normandy to Sicily, but they got about a lot.

After their help to the Prince of Salerno, the Normans were welcome back any time. Comparing Sicily - lovely weather, great food - to Normandy, it's understandable that plenty of Normans fancied a visit to see for themselves. Mediterranean tourism is nothing new, even before Ryanair.

The history of the period immediately following is very confused. There were a lot of battles, during which the Normans gradually accumulated more power and territory. What is certain is that in 1061, Robert and Roger Guiscard took control of Sicily from a bunch of feuding fiefdoms. With Sicily as a base, they gradually moved the boundaries of their local empire eastwards and northwards. In 1077 they reached Naples and took control of it. In 1130, the Kingdom of Sicily was formally established with the blessing of Pope Innocent II. Its capital was Palermo, which is definitely in Sicily.

The Normans evidently got fed up with Sicily. In 1198 the throne passed to Frederick II of the House of Hohenstaufen. As you may guess, he wasn't Sicilian. Their base was in Swabia, their capital near present-day Stuttgart. They were in turn replaced by Charles I of Anjou in France in 1266.

Things came to a head in 1282, when the Sicilian population got fed up with all this remote rule and threw them all out in the War of the Sicilian Vespers (Lambrettas were still a few centuries away). The throne of Sicily passed to Frederick III of Barcelona. Remote working is nothing new.

It took a while for the dust to settle, at the Peace of Caltabelotta in 1302. The Kingdom of Sicily was divided into two parts, the island itself and the mainland part. But the subsequent naming was surreal. The island part became officially the Kingdom of Trinacria, though still generally referred to as the Kingdom of Sicily. The mainland part was officially called... the Kingdom of Sicily, though generally referred to as the Kingdom of Naples. Makes perfect sense, n'est-ce pas?

This odd state of affairs had a very long life. In 1759, the King of Sicily (meaning Naples not including Sicily) was Charles VII of the House of Bourbon, which is to say French. But then he got king-hunted, and decided to take the offered new job as King of Spain. That left a vacancy in Naples, which Charles filled with his son Ferdinand. One of Charles' last acts as King of Naples was to start the construction of the largest monument to megalomania in Europe, the Palace of Caserta, just north of Naples. The building itself is vast, with over 1200 rooms, while the Versailles-like garden stretches over 3 kilometres.

In 1799, Napoleon attacked Naples and briefly took control of it. Ferdinand was forced to flee to Sicily (the island), which was protected by the British under Nelson. Sicily was a British protectorate from 1806 to 1814, which I suspect not many people in Britain know.

In 1815 Napoleon was defeated and the British lost interest in Sicily. Ferdinand took control again. His stay on the island evidently hadn't endeared it to him, because he took the opportunity to wipe out the other Kingdom of Sicily and to take control of both of them. The resulting joint venture he renamed (as you may have guessed) the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The islanders understandably weren't keen on this and revolted, but this and subsequent rebellions were brutally suppressed by Ferdinand and again by his son, Ferdinand II with support from Austria.

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies only had a short life, though. In 1860 Garibaldi, as the head of the new united country of Italy, attacked and conquered Sicily. In 1861, everything became part of the Kingdom of Italy. If you'd like to know more, I suggest starting with the Wikipedia article. You will soon find yourself drawn into the complete history, as I was.