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The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861
This rare and vintage book is a perfect addition to any bibliophile's collection
559 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1961
About the author
Harold Acton
54 books14 followersSir Harold Mario Mitchell Acton was a British writer, scholar and dilettante who is probably most famous for being believed, incorrectly, to have inspired the character of "Anthony Blanche" in Evelyn Waugh's novel Brideshead Revisited (1945).
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March 4, 2026
Harold Acton Masterfully Chronicles The Lives And Reigns Of The Last Bourbons Of Naples, During The Period From 1825-1861.
In the introduction to Part II of his masterful duology which chronicles the lives and reigns of the colorful Bourbon family of Naples, The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861, Sir Harold Acton begins by summarizing the overall character of the dynasty's penultimate monarch, Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies, before discussing the myriad literary, musical, and artistic movements that brought further enlightenment, enjoyment, and escape from an otherwise tempestuous historical period to the remarkable citizens of Naples. Lord Acton's eloquent descriptions canvass the ascent to popularity of the informal confederation of painters which became known as the School of Posillipo, so named for the magnificent city's picturesque quarter made famous for its gorgeous vistas and ethereal set-pieces, and a popular congregation point for artists during the nineteenth century.
The Neapolitan School of Posillipo's beginnings were attributed to the Dutch open-air artist Antonie Sminck Pitloo, and the movement gave birth to brilliant talents such as Salvatore Fergola, Gabriele Smargiassi, and Giacinto Gigante, among others. Acton utilizes to great effect the memoirs of the English diplomat Lord Francis Napier to recount the brilliance of these Romantic Era-artists. "Giambattista Vianelli was the best illustrator of popular manners and religious scenes during Ferdinand's reign, while Salvatore Fergola was the pictorial annalist of palace life, 'reducing to canvass all the hunts, launches, reviews, processions, shows, and festivities which for a series of years assembled the courtiers and the multitude: such as the inauguration of the Neapolitan railroads, and of the tournament held at Caserta in 1846.'"
Acton briefly discusses how Naples influenced the American novelist William Dean Howells, also touching upon the numerous, critically acclaimed operas which were performed at the city's San Carlo theatre, such as Gioachino Rossini's 1819 La donna del lago and Gaetano Donizetti's 1835 Lucia di Lammermoor. Neo-classic architecture experienced tremendous popularity in Naples due to the discoveries unearthed at the excavated Roman city of Herculaneum, which can be read about in Volume I, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), and wondrous edifices such as the Villa Floridiana and the church of San Francesco di Paola still stand and can be seen in modern times in all their majestic grandeur.
This U.K. hardcover edition of Harold Acton's 1961 The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 was published by Methuen and Co Ltd, and features a 535-page main text that is split into 27 chapters which, like the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), all have lengthy, descriptive titles denoting the events discussed therein. There are 17 black-and-white illustrations accompanying the narrative which display various Romantic-era paintings of personages and events, as well as a genealogical table that begins with King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and proceeds up to Ferdinand Pius Maria, Duke of Calabria. Also included is an 8-page select bibliography and an index at the back of the volume.
King Francis I's diplomatic trip to Milan during his five-year reign's commencement in 1825 was undertaken largely to negotiate the withdrawal of the Austrian troops who had occupied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies since the most recent Carbonari revolution that had occurred in 1820. The redoubtable Prince Metternich had overseen the arrangements which had led to the Austrian-Bourbon military victory over the rebels at the Battle of Antrodoco the following year, and at the meeting in Milan Francis also hoped to establish a positive impression of his newly-solidified sovereign state with the Austrian emperor. Though his intentions were generally enthusiastic and well-meaning, Francis' administration was overrun with venal and corrupt ministers who readily took advantage of his passive disposition and host of idiosyncrasies to assume de facto control of the government.
"The Emperor of Austria had awarded Francis the Grand Cross of Saint Stephen of Hungary as a public token of friendship and invited him to a meeting in Milan. In his letter of acceptance, Francis said he intended to follow in his august father's footsteps, perfect his administration, and improve his army. His eldest son Ferdinand, the young Duke of Calabria, was to act as regent on ceremonial occasions during his absence, but all the protocols of the council were to be sent to Milan for his approval. Metternich maintained that the military occupation of Naples was the only guarantee of peace for Italy."
The ecclesiastic who was assigned with young Prince Ferdinand's education, Bishop Agostino Olivieri of Arethusa, worked tirelessly to instill in his student an appreciation for Catholic doctrine and classical Roman ethics which included aspects of law, philosophy, and history. He used the life of the French monarch Saint Louis as his archetype for the ideal king, and cited other rulers' mistakes as a way to teach the future sovereign what not to do when he reached his majority. When discussing Ferdinand's tutelage with his father King Francis I, Bishop Olivieri stood his ground and defended his choices with staunchness and honesty, using as his own personal role model the esteemed French Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, who had taught at the court of Louis XIV during the seventeenth century.
"Important passages of history should be learnt by heart and translated into French and Latin. As regards philosophy, it was necessary to distinguish between doctrines of practical use, and those which gave rise to disreputable opinions: the Prince should learn to judge rather than to dispute. Logic and ethics came next: Plato and Aristotle should help to form the judgement with solid reasoning. Holy Scripture and the Gospels should be the sole source of moral doctrine. Some notions of physics and natural science were also necessary, and a grounding in Roman law."
King Ferdinand II's first wife was Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy, a remarkable, virtuous woman and devout Catholic whose much-anticipated public appearances at events and gatherings were highly regarded by the citizens of Naples. Her moderating influence at court and in forms of artistic expression was made manifest in Ferdinand's multiple edicts regulating the immodest dress of performers at the San Carlo theatre, and her considerable generosity towards the poor, which she would demonstrate by performing charitable acts that included working at a hostel for pilgrims and convincing her husband to release a number of debtors from prison, were both highly lauded aspects of her brief two-year reign that endeared the young queen to her Neapolitan subjects. Maria Cristina also persuaded Ferdinand to decree monthly subsidies to a group of 300 impoverished military orphans, and also to declare that the municipal pawn-shop known as the Monte di Pietà was to restore, up to a value of six ducats, all property held in pawn at the establishment.
The renowned Sicilian composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania in 1801, which he left at the age of fifteen he left to study at Naples' Conservatorio di San Sebastiano, focusing on the musical works of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart before enrolling in a class taught by the school's artistic director, Niccolò Antonio Zingarrelli. Zingarrelli was impressed with Bellini's innate talent and introduced him to professional composers such as Gaetano Donizetti, and in 1826, he became affiliated with Naples' famous San Carlo theatre, where his second opera, Bianca e Fernando, was released to thunderous acclaim. Vincenzo Bellini went on to compose numerous symphonies that debuted at Milan's La Scala and Teatro Carcano opera houses, among others, and he will always remain an important historical figure of the bel canto musical era. In Chapter IV Acton discusses Bellini's overall impact upon culture, music and politics, utilizing excerpts from the German poet Heinrich Heine's Florentine Nights, who, despite his early misgivings, believed that he possessed a noble character, a pure soul and a good nature.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Sicilian sulphur reserves constituted roughly four-fifths of the world's total supply of the valuable mineral, and were the object of a lengthy dispute over an exclusive contract signed in July 1838 between the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and a Marseilles-based company owned by the French merchants Amato Taix and Arsene Aycard, affording them a monopoly on the mining and export of Sicily's sulphur, up to a limit of 600,000 hundredweight per annum for a yearly price of 400,000 ducats. The disagreement arose between the Two Sicilies, France, and England, with the latter nation's prior vested interests on the island complicating the contract's facilitation, and after creating no small amount of distress for all involved parties there arose an effort to have the newly drafted bill promptly annulled. This eventually did occur, although it took quite some time for King Ferdinand II's advisors to persuade the monarch to issue the edict that dissolved the French monopoly on July 11, 1840. This scenario's details can be learned in toto in Chapter VI of Acton's history.
According to Acton's sources, during the decade between 1830-1840 Naples and its surrounding area experienced a drastic growth in population, which rose from 5,732,114 to 6,177,598, an increase of 445,484, almost half a million people. The agriculturally-bountiful Naples region's domestic cash crops included viticulture, olive oil from Puglia, timber from Calabria, and raw silk from Staiti, which was processed and manufactured into clothing at a silk factory adjoining the royal palace at San Leucio. In 1839 Naples received the distinctive honor of hosting Italy's first railroad, which originally ran from Naples to Granatello, and according to Sir William Temple, "'..The Railroad is about eighteen Neapolitan, or nearly twenty English miles in length, and the journey both going and returning was performed within the hour.'" The author describes some other commercial and technological milestones that occurred in Naples during this era, in the following short passage.
"The capital was lit with gas in 1840, and the profusion of shops was another indication of increased prosperity. About two-thirds of the domestic produce were exported under the national flag. According to the British consul John Goodwin, the building of merchant ships, promoted by the abundance of materials and the cheapness of labor, and encouraged by the granting of bounties for Baltic and Indian voyages, had made great progress throughout the last twenty years."
The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 can be a challenging read for newcomers and enthusiasts alike, as the events occurring during its timeline have little relation to those appearing in the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), making understanding the historical context difficult without prior knowledge of the time period. This later historical era is still relatively new to the reviewer, and among the title's most daunting aspects was the sheer volume of names, dates, and events appearing suddenly with little to no explanation, but the book becomes easier once these minutiae are learned through inferential reading or online research. Learning about the numerous agricultural and technological advancements which were introduced to Naples during this period was an unforgettable experience for which the reviewer is profoundly grateful, and Harold Acton's remarkable ability to organize the complicated chain of events into a cohesive narrative is nothing short of astounding.
Pope Pius IX's initially popular pontificate followed in the wake of his predecessor Gregory XVI's death on 1 June 1846 and was inaugurated by an unprecedented amnesty that released from prison over one thousand political detainees and permitted hundreds of exiles to return home to their families. Pope Pius judiciously tempered the severity of the Papal States' civil and penal codes and increased the freedom with which Roman newspapers and other periodicals were allowed to print, and he also created a layman-eligible, papal advisory board called the Consulta di Stato, or State Council, whose chief purpose was to advise the Catholic pontiff on financial and administrative matters. Finally, as a gesture to the Roman people he granted the Eternal City its own municipal government, which was to be composed of one hundred members with no more than four members of the clergy.
Pio Nono's liberal-aligned policies and reforms placed a destabilizing effect upon the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies' monarchial government, and as a result, Ferdinand II's Envoy Extraordinary Sir William Temple decided to take an unexpected holiday due to the tense political climate which had arisen there, delegating his twenty-eight-year-old chargé d'affairs, Lord Francis Napier, to conduct diplomatic affairs in his absence. Napier served eighteen months as Great Britain's Acting Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and it was during this period that he penned his famous account, Notes on Modern Painting at Naples, which is as much a commentary and record of Neapolitan politics during his stay in the city as it is an exposition on Posillipo School-inspired art. "Bored by limitations of conservative society, young Napier sought the company of artists and littérateurs, and most artists are born rebels. His house became a social centre for the enemies of the sovereign to whom he was accredited, and from these he gathered most of his information."
Despite the events which led to Sicilian Revolution's outbreak in 1848 King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies remained steadfast in his refusal to appeal to his Austrian allies for diplomatic or military assistance. The king had resisted Austria's Foreign Minister Felix Schwarzenberg's efforts to dissuade him from granting Sicily constitutional rights, and the minister had drafted a detailed memorandum explaining the situation as seen from his own government's perspective. Ferdinand at last decided in favor of drafting a constitution, and he issued edicts dismissing his unpopular Royal Confessor Celestino Cocle and the Marchese Francesco del Carretto, also creating a new ministry headed by the Duke of Serracapriola Nicola Merasca, a skilled diplomat whom Ferdinand had previously sent to Paris to negotiate with the French during the Sulphur Crisis of 1840. Although the Sicilian Constitution was unsuccessful in preventing the outbreak of civil war, it was nonetheless an admirable, benevolent-intended attempt to avert a crisis during an unstable political period.
After King Ferdinand II's dismissal on 3 April 1848 of his constitutional government's Minister of Grace and Justice Aurelio Saliceti on the grounds of his radicalistic tendencies, the Bourbon monarch assembled a fresh administration and entrusted it to a new president's stewardship in the person of Carlo Troya, a moderate liberal politician and medieval historian who had previously held from 1844-7 the presidency of the Neapolitan Historic Society and also contributed to the Il Tempo daily newspaper, but Troya's newfound promotion came during a turbulent political period, and his declaration of war against the Austrian Empire on 7 April may have been a contributing factor which led to Ferdinand's subsequent dissolution of his new government and its reversion to monarchial form on 15 May 1848.
The later chapters navigate a treacherously complex, Byzantine path through a sea of pre-Unification maneuvers and stratagems centered on Italy's Piedmont region and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but despite the period's turbulent political atmosphere several notable writers and scholars from Italy and abroad witnessed events that moved them sufficiently to commit their thoughts to paper. Acton provides an excerpt from Giacinto de Sivo's five-volume History of the Two Sicilies from 1847 to 1861 in which the legitimist historian heaps praise upon the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies' monarchial government with deep-seeded loyalist sentiments that reflected his undying belief in the Bourbon cause, and the Swedish writer Fredrika Bremer composed an elegant literary portrait in her memoirs, entitled Two years in Switzerland and Italy, depicting King Ferdinand enjoying pleasant carriage-rides across the scenic volcanic isle of Ischia accompanied by his second wife Maria Theresa and their children, also limning striking everyday Neapolitan street-scenes which she felt in her heart were embodied in Teodoro Cottrau's famous 1849 baricola Santa Lucia.
While its fairly modest 545-page-count it may appear as a more accessible undertaking than its 750-page predecessor, Harold Acton's The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 is in actuality quite a challenging read for history genre novices and specialists alike. The title's uneven pacing and unique correspondence-reliant narrative make for decidedly slow perusal, even in the most optimal of reading environments, and the expanded notes consist of mostly obscure, pedantic titles with very few actual notes. However, these minor details will be utterly irrelevant to the determined reader, whether they are newcomers curious about history or seasoned enthusiasts with dozens of history titles on their résumés.
The reader's ultimate satisfaction with this book is not entirely reliant upon their enjoyment of, or even of their having read the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), because the majority of the events, personages, and information featured in the two volumes are not necessarily codependent. When viewed from any perspective, Harold Acton's Bourbon duology is a magnificently written addition to the history genre that was decades ahead of its mid-twentieth-century composition, and which features in the bibliographies of later esteemed historians such as John Julius Norwich, in his epic chronicle, The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean, among others. I would resoundingly recommend this wonderful title to anyone who desires to learn more about the Bourbons and their dynasty, and not to be put off by the challenging content or the author's style of writing. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
In the introduction to Part II of his masterful duology which chronicles the lives and reigns of the colorful Bourbon family of Naples, The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861, Sir Harold Acton begins by summarizing the overall character of the dynasty's penultimate monarch, Ferdinand II, King of the Two Sicilies, before discussing the myriad literary, musical, and artistic movements that brought further enlightenment, enjoyment, and escape from an otherwise tempestuous historical period to the remarkable citizens of Naples. Lord Acton's eloquent descriptions canvass the ascent to popularity of the informal confederation of painters which became known as the School of Posillipo, so named for the magnificent city's picturesque quarter made famous for its gorgeous vistas and ethereal set-pieces, and a popular congregation point for artists during the nineteenth century.
The Neapolitan School of Posillipo's beginnings were attributed to the Dutch open-air artist Antonie Sminck Pitloo, and the movement gave birth to brilliant talents such as Salvatore Fergola, Gabriele Smargiassi, and Giacinto Gigante, among others. Acton utilizes to great effect the memoirs of the English diplomat Lord Francis Napier to recount the brilliance of these Romantic Era-artists. "Giambattista Vianelli was the best illustrator of popular manners and religious scenes during Ferdinand's reign, while Salvatore Fergola was the pictorial annalist of palace life, 'reducing to canvass all the hunts, launches, reviews, processions, shows, and festivities which for a series of years assembled the courtiers and the multitude: such as the inauguration of the Neapolitan railroads, and of the tournament held at Caserta in 1846.'"
Acton briefly discusses how Naples influenced the American novelist William Dean Howells, also touching upon the numerous, critically acclaimed operas which were performed at the city's San Carlo theatre, such as Gioachino Rossini's 1819 La donna del lago and Gaetano Donizetti's 1835 Lucia di Lammermoor. Neo-classic architecture experienced tremendous popularity in Naples due to the discoveries unearthed at the excavated Roman city of Herculaneum, which can be read about in Volume I, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), and wondrous edifices such as the Villa Floridiana and the church of San Francesco di Paola still stand and can be seen in modern times in all their majestic grandeur.
This U.K. hardcover edition of Harold Acton's 1961 The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 was published by Methuen and Co Ltd, and features a 535-page main text that is split into 27 chapters which, like the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), all have lengthy, descriptive titles denoting the events discussed therein. There are 17 black-and-white illustrations accompanying the narrative which display various Romantic-era paintings of personages and events, as well as a genealogical table that begins with King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and proceeds up to Ferdinand Pius Maria, Duke of Calabria. Also included is an 8-page select bibliography and an index at the back of the volume.
King Francis I's diplomatic trip to Milan during his five-year reign's commencement in 1825 was undertaken largely to negotiate the withdrawal of the Austrian troops who had occupied the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies since the most recent Carbonari revolution that had occurred in 1820. The redoubtable Prince Metternich had overseen the arrangements which had led to the Austrian-Bourbon military victory over the rebels at the Battle of Antrodoco the following year, and at the meeting in Milan Francis also hoped to establish a positive impression of his newly-solidified sovereign state with the Austrian emperor. Though his intentions were generally enthusiastic and well-meaning, Francis' administration was overrun with venal and corrupt ministers who readily took advantage of his passive disposition and host of idiosyncrasies to assume de facto control of the government.
"The Emperor of Austria had awarded Francis the Grand Cross of Saint Stephen of Hungary as a public token of friendship and invited him to a meeting in Milan. In his letter of acceptance, Francis said he intended to follow in his august father's footsteps, perfect his administration, and improve his army. His eldest son Ferdinand, the young Duke of Calabria, was to act as regent on ceremonial occasions during his absence, but all the protocols of the council were to be sent to Milan for his approval. Metternich maintained that the military occupation of Naples was the only guarantee of peace for Italy."
The ecclesiastic who was assigned with young Prince Ferdinand's education, Bishop Agostino Olivieri of Arethusa, worked tirelessly to instill in his student an appreciation for Catholic doctrine and classical Roman ethics which included aspects of law, philosophy, and history. He used the life of the French monarch Saint Louis as his archetype for the ideal king, and cited other rulers' mistakes as a way to teach the future sovereign what not to do when he reached his majority. When discussing Ferdinand's tutelage with his father King Francis I, Bishop Olivieri stood his ground and defended his choices with staunchness and honesty, using as his own personal role model the esteemed French Bishop Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet, who had taught at the court of Louis XIV during the seventeenth century.
"Important passages of history should be learnt by heart and translated into French and Latin. As regards philosophy, it was necessary to distinguish between doctrines of practical use, and those which gave rise to disreputable opinions: the Prince should learn to judge rather than to dispute. Logic and ethics came next: Plato and Aristotle should help to form the judgement with solid reasoning. Holy Scripture and the Gospels should be the sole source of moral doctrine. Some notions of physics and natural science were also necessary, and a grounding in Roman law."
King Ferdinand II's first wife was Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy, a remarkable, virtuous woman and devout Catholic whose much-anticipated public appearances at events and gatherings were highly regarded by the citizens of Naples. Her moderating influence at court and in forms of artistic expression was made manifest in Ferdinand's multiple edicts regulating the immodest dress of performers at the San Carlo theatre, and her considerable generosity towards the poor, which she would demonstrate by performing charitable acts that included working at a hostel for pilgrims and convincing her husband to release a number of debtors from prison, were both highly lauded aspects of her brief two-year reign that endeared the young queen to her Neapolitan subjects. Maria Cristina also persuaded Ferdinand to decree monthly subsidies to a group of 300 impoverished military orphans, and also to declare that the municipal pawn-shop known as the Monte di Pietà was to restore, up to a value of six ducats, all property held in pawn at the establishment.
The renowned Sicilian composer Vincenzo Bellini was born in Catania in 1801, which he left at the age of fifteen he left to study at Naples' Conservatorio di San Sebastiano, focusing on the musical works of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart before enrolling in a class taught by the school's artistic director, Niccolò Antonio Zingarrelli. Zingarrelli was impressed with Bellini's innate talent and introduced him to professional composers such as Gaetano Donizetti, and in 1826, he became affiliated with Naples' famous San Carlo theatre, where his second opera, Bianca e Fernando, was released to thunderous acclaim. Vincenzo Bellini went on to compose numerous symphonies that debuted at Milan's La Scala and Teatro Carcano opera houses, among others, and he will always remain an important historical figure of the bel canto musical era. In Chapter IV Acton discusses Bellini's overall impact upon culture, music and politics, utilizing excerpts from the German poet Heinrich Heine's Florentine Nights, who, despite his early misgivings, believed that he possessed a noble character, a pure soul and a good nature.
During the first half of the nineteenth century, Sicilian sulphur reserves constituted roughly four-fifths of the world's total supply of the valuable mineral, and were the object of a lengthy dispute over an exclusive contract signed in July 1838 between the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and a Marseilles-based company owned by the French merchants Amato Taix and Arsene Aycard, affording them a monopoly on the mining and export of Sicily's sulphur, up to a limit of 600,000 hundredweight per annum for a yearly price of 400,000 ducats. The disagreement arose between the Two Sicilies, France, and England, with the latter nation's prior vested interests on the island complicating the contract's facilitation, and after creating no small amount of distress for all involved parties there arose an effort to have the newly drafted bill promptly annulled. This eventually did occur, although it took quite some time for King Ferdinand II's advisors to persuade the monarch to issue the edict that dissolved the French monopoly on July 11, 1840. This scenario's details can be learned in toto in Chapter VI of Acton's history.
According to Acton's sources, during the decade between 1830-1840 Naples and its surrounding area experienced a drastic growth in population, which rose from 5,732,114 to 6,177,598, an increase of 445,484, almost half a million people. The agriculturally-bountiful Naples region's domestic cash crops included viticulture, olive oil from Puglia, timber from Calabria, and raw silk from Staiti, which was processed and manufactured into clothing at a silk factory adjoining the royal palace at San Leucio. In 1839 Naples received the distinctive honor of hosting Italy's first railroad, which originally ran from Naples to Granatello, and according to Sir William Temple, "'..The Railroad is about eighteen Neapolitan, or nearly twenty English miles in length, and the journey both going and returning was performed within the hour.'" The author describes some other commercial and technological milestones that occurred in Naples during this era, in the following short passage.
"The capital was lit with gas in 1840, and the profusion of shops was another indication of increased prosperity. About two-thirds of the domestic produce were exported under the national flag. According to the British consul John Goodwin, the building of merchant ships, promoted by the abundance of materials and the cheapness of labor, and encouraged by the granting of bounties for Baltic and Indian voyages, had made great progress throughout the last twenty years."
The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 can be a challenging read for newcomers and enthusiasts alike, as the events occurring during its timeline have little relation to those appearing in the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), making understanding the historical context difficult without prior knowledge of the time period. This later historical era is still relatively new to the reviewer, and among the title's most daunting aspects was the sheer volume of names, dates, and events appearing suddenly with little to no explanation, but the book becomes easier once these minutiae are learned through inferential reading or online research. Learning about the numerous agricultural and technological advancements which were introduced to Naples during this period was an unforgettable experience for which the reviewer is profoundly grateful, and Harold Acton's remarkable ability to organize the complicated chain of events into a cohesive narrative is nothing short of astounding.
Pope Pius IX's initially popular pontificate followed in the wake of his predecessor Gregory XVI's death on 1 June 1846 and was inaugurated by an unprecedented amnesty that released from prison over one thousand political detainees and permitted hundreds of exiles to return home to their families. Pope Pius judiciously tempered the severity of the Papal States' civil and penal codes and increased the freedom with which Roman newspapers and other periodicals were allowed to print, and he also created a layman-eligible, papal advisory board called the Consulta di Stato, or State Council, whose chief purpose was to advise the Catholic pontiff on financial and administrative matters. Finally, as a gesture to the Roman people he granted the Eternal City its own municipal government, which was to be composed of one hundred members with no more than four members of the clergy.
Pio Nono's liberal-aligned policies and reforms placed a destabilizing effect upon the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies' monarchial government, and as a result, Ferdinand II's Envoy Extraordinary Sir William Temple decided to take an unexpected holiday due to the tense political climate which had arisen there, delegating his twenty-eight-year-old chargé d'affairs, Lord Francis Napier, to conduct diplomatic affairs in his absence. Napier served eighteen months as Great Britain's Acting Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and it was during this period that he penned his famous account, Notes on Modern Painting at Naples, which is as much a commentary and record of Neapolitan politics during his stay in the city as it is an exposition on Posillipo School-inspired art. "Bored by limitations of conservative society, young Napier sought the company of artists and littérateurs, and most artists are born rebels. His house became a social centre for the enemies of the sovereign to whom he was accredited, and from these he gathered most of his information."
Despite the events which led to Sicilian Revolution's outbreak in 1848 King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies remained steadfast in his refusal to appeal to his Austrian allies for diplomatic or military assistance. The king had resisted Austria's Foreign Minister Felix Schwarzenberg's efforts to dissuade him from granting Sicily constitutional rights, and the minister had drafted a detailed memorandum explaining the situation as seen from his own government's perspective. Ferdinand at last decided in favor of drafting a constitution, and he issued edicts dismissing his unpopular Royal Confessor Celestino Cocle and the Marchese Francesco del Carretto, also creating a new ministry headed by the Duke of Serracapriola Nicola Merasca, a skilled diplomat whom Ferdinand had previously sent to Paris to negotiate with the French during the Sulphur Crisis of 1840. Although the Sicilian Constitution was unsuccessful in preventing the outbreak of civil war, it was nonetheless an admirable, benevolent-intended attempt to avert a crisis during an unstable political period.
After King Ferdinand II's dismissal on 3 April 1848 of his constitutional government's Minister of Grace and Justice Aurelio Saliceti on the grounds of his radicalistic tendencies, the Bourbon monarch assembled a fresh administration and entrusted it to a new president's stewardship in the person of Carlo Troya, a moderate liberal politician and medieval historian who had previously held from 1844-7 the presidency of the Neapolitan Historic Society and also contributed to the Il Tempo daily newspaper, but Troya's newfound promotion came during a turbulent political period, and his declaration of war against the Austrian Empire on 7 April may have been a contributing factor which led to Ferdinand's subsequent dissolution of his new government and its reversion to monarchial form on 15 May 1848.
The later chapters navigate a treacherously complex, Byzantine path through a sea of pre-Unification maneuvers and stratagems centered on Italy's Piedmont region and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, but despite the period's turbulent political atmosphere several notable writers and scholars from Italy and abroad witnessed events that moved them sufficiently to commit their thoughts to paper. Acton provides an excerpt from Giacinto de Sivo's five-volume History of the Two Sicilies from 1847 to 1861 in which the legitimist historian heaps praise upon the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies' monarchial government with deep-seeded loyalist sentiments that reflected his undying belief in the Bourbon cause, and the Swedish writer Fredrika Bremer composed an elegant literary portrait in her memoirs, entitled Two years in Switzerland and Italy, depicting King Ferdinand enjoying pleasant carriage-rides across the scenic volcanic isle of Ischia accompanied by his second wife Maria Theresa and their children, also limning striking everyday Neapolitan street-scenes which she felt in her heart were embodied in Teodoro Cottrau's famous 1849 baricola Santa Lucia.
While its fairly modest 545-page-count it may appear as a more accessible undertaking than its 750-page predecessor, Harold Acton's The Last Bourbons of Naples, 1825-1861 is in actuality quite a challenging read for history genre novices and specialists alike. The title's uneven pacing and unique correspondence-reliant narrative make for decidedly slow perusal, even in the most optimal of reading environments, and the expanded notes consist of mostly obscure, pedantic titles with very few actual notes. However, these minor details will be utterly irrelevant to the determined reader, whether they are newcomers curious about history or seasoned enthusiasts with dozens of history titles on their résumés.
The reader's ultimate satisfaction with this book is not entirely reliant upon their enjoyment of, or even of their having read the previous entry, The Bourbons of Naples (1734-1825), because the majority of the events, personages, and information featured in the two volumes are not necessarily codependent. When viewed from any perspective, Harold Acton's Bourbon duology is a magnificently written addition to the history genre that was decades ahead of its mid-twentieth-century composition, and which features in the bibliographies of later esteemed historians such as John Julius Norwich, in his epic chronicle, The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean, among others. I would resoundingly recommend this wonderful title to anyone who desires to learn more about the Bourbons and their dynasty, and not to be put off by the challenging content or the author's style of writing. Thank you so very much for reading, I hope that you enjoyed the review!
October 24, 2018
Libro molto interessante e, alla fine, anche epico e commovente; non è la storia del Regno delle due Sicilie, ma dei Borboni, come dice però il titolo, per cui non ci si deve aspettare un'analisi politico-sociologica della Società di quel periodo, né tantomeno menzione di fatti e movimenti non strettamente legati agli eventi che hanno avuto come perno la famiglia reale.
Le sue fonti sono principalmente estere, in particolare resoconti di diplomatici e viaggiatori stranieri, un po' meno saggi nazionali; ma questo, nonostante l'astio di quelli inglesi e le beghe di quasi tutti gli altri per far cadere il Regno, comunque assicura delle fonti diverse da quelle che per tanti anni, per esaltare l'Unità d'Italia, hanno visto solo il male in questa dinastia.
Non è solo storia di fatti ma anche di persone: di acerrimi nemici, di falsi amici traditori, di voltagabbana e di uomini fedeli al loro governo/paese ed al loro onore.
Le sue fonti sono principalmente estere, in particolare resoconti di diplomatici e viaggiatori stranieri, un po' meno saggi nazionali; ma questo, nonostante l'astio di quelli inglesi e le beghe di quasi tutti gli altri per far cadere il Regno, comunque assicura delle fonti diverse da quelle che per tanti anni, per esaltare l'Unità d'Italia, hanno visto solo il male in questa dinastia.
Non è solo storia di fatti ma anche di persone: di acerrimi nemici, di falsi amici traditori, di voltagabbana e di uomini fedeli al loro governo/paese ed al loro onore.
December 11, 2017
"Though they were to depart with 'the honours of war', with their equipment, stores, artillery, horses, and baggage, while the Dictator took over the forts, barraks and military establishments after an exchange of prisoners, not a few of them wept for shame as they filed off in a seemingly endless column before grinning groups of their red-shirted victors. They could not understand their humiliating defeat: had they not been betrayed by their commanders?
Old General Lanza looked as self-satisfied as if he had won a campaign. At a final parade, like a flamboyant mockery of militarism, one miserable soldier stepped from the ranks and shouted to the General in hoarse resentment: 'Look Your Excellency! Just see how many we are! Must we really leave like this?' 'Be off you drunken sot!' the General replied.
Old General Lanza looked as self-satisfied as if he had won a campaign. At a final parade, like a flamboyant mockery of militarism, one miserable soldier stepped from the ranks and shouted to the General in hoarse resentment: 'Look Your Excellency! Just see how many we are! Must we really leave like this?' 'Be off you drunken sot!' the General replied.
November 24, 2014
A best read of a fascinating family who have had a bad press from liberal writers (The negation of God erected into a system of government was one observation). He writes well about a baroque family of royals who were on balance rather better than the Savoy dynasty who supplanted them in Italy.
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