CORRADINO di SVEVIA. - B. at the castle of Wolfstein, near Landshut (Niederbayern), on 25 March 1252; d. at Naples on 29 Oct. 1268. The last descendant of the Hohenstaufen, son of Corrado IV, king of Germany, and of Elisabetta di Baviera, he was orphaned of his father at the age of two and was brought up by his uncle Ludovico di Baviera. After the death of King Manfredi (1266), he was urgently invited by the Italian Ghibellines to descend into Italy in order to reconquer the Kingdom of Sicily by force of arms.
Having entrusted his German dominions to the duke of Bavaria, he undertook the enterprise while still very young, thereby incurring the Pope's excommunication. Having entered Rome, he left it on 27 July 1268 to reach the Neapolitan territory through the Abruzzi; but at Scurcola, on 23 Aug. 1268, he was defeated by Carlo d'Angiò and, abandoned by his followers, attempted as a last refuge to embark at Astura near Rome. Betrayed by Giovanni Frangipane, lord of the place, he was handed over to Carlo and, after a summary trial, was beheaded at Naples. He was buried in the Church of the Carmine.