Carlo Filangieri

Carlo Filangieri, prince of Satriano, Duke of Taormina was born in May 10, 1784 in Cava de' Tirreni, Kingdom of Naples [Italy]. He died at the age of 83 at his villa of San Giorgio in Cremano near Naples on the 9th of October 1867.

He was the son of Gaetano Filangieri (August 18, 1752 – july 21, 1788), an Italian philosopher, jurist and publicist dedicated to the study of the law.

Carlo Filangieri at the age of fifteen  chosed a military career. He was introduced to Napoleon Bonaparte, at that time first consul. Then was admitted to the Military Academy of Paris.

After receiving a commission in an infantry regiment, he served in the Army of Napoleon Bonaparte under General Davaut in 1805 in the Low Countries, and later at Ulm, Maria Zell and Austerlitz. During this period fighting with distinction, was wounded several times and also promoted.

Around 1806 he served as captain under Massena’s staff and fought against the Bourbons and the Austrians. Thereafter went to Spain to follow Jerome Bonaparte in his retreat from Madrid. After being involved in a duel he came back to Naples. He then served under Joachim Murat and being promoted to the rank of general. He then was commissioned to fight against the Anglo-Sicilian forces in Calabria and at Messina.

At the foll of  Napoleon Bonaparte he desired to take part in Murat's campaign against Eugène de Beauharnais, and later in that against Austria. During the last event he was severely wounded at the battle of the Panaro (1815).

When the Bourbon king Ferdinand IV (I) was restored,  Filangieri was able to retained his command with the rank of general. He claimed to find the army disorganized and being influenced by the Carbonarism.

In 1831 he was recalled by Ferdinand II and entrusted with various military reforms. On the outbreak of the troubles of 1848 Filangieri advised the king to grant the constitution, which he did in February 1848. When the Sicilians formally seceded from the Neapolitan kingdom, Filangieri was given the command of an armed force with which to reduce the island to obedience. On September 3 he landed near Messina, and after very severe fighting captured the city. He then advanced southwards, besieged and took Catania, where his troops committed many atrocities, and by May 1849 he had conquered the whole of Sicily, with heavy fighting and bloodshed.

He remained in Sicily as governor until 1855. At this time  he retired into private life for the main reason that he could not carry out the reforms he desired because of the hostility against him of Giovanni Cassisi, the minister for Sicily. On the death of Ferdinand II (May 22, 1859) the new king Francis II appointed Filangieri premier and minister of war. He promoted good relations with France, then taking side with Piedmont against the Austrians in Lombardy, and strongly urged on the king the necessity of an alliance with Piedmont and a constitution as the only means whereby the dynasty might be saved. These proposals being rejected, Filangieri resigned office.

In May 1860, FrancisII at last promulgated the constitution, but it was too late, for Garibaldi was in Sicily and in Naples was visible the beginning of a rebellion. On the advice of Liborio Romano, the new prefect of police, Filangieri was ordered to leave Naples. He went to Marseilles with his wife and subsequently to Florence, where under the encouregement of General La Marmora he undertook to write an account of the Italian army. Although he adhered to the new government he refused to accept any elevated responsability at its hands, and died at his villa of San Giorgio in Cremano near Naples on the 9th of October 1867.

Filangieri was a very distinguished soldier, and a man of great ability; although he changed sides several times he became really attached to the Bourbon dynasty, which he hoped to save by freeing it from its reactionary tendencies and infusing a new spirit into it. His conduct in Sicily was severe and harsh, but he was not without feelings of humanity, and he was an honest man and a good administrator.