FERDINAND II of Bourbon, King of the Two Sicilies. — Son of Francis I and of Maria Isabella of Spain, born in Palermo on 12 January 1809, died in Naples on 22 May 1859. He ascended the throne on 8 November 1830, and on 21 November 1832 married Maria Christina of Savoy, who died too soon. At first the princes seemed inclined to some leniency, but he then adopted a conservative policy and appointed Saverio Del Carretto to head the police; Del Carretto had repressed the uprisings in Cilento under Francis I. Liberal uprisings soon began, complicated by Sicilian separatism, which, in addition to reforms, demanded separation from Naples, with administrative independence for the ancient Kingdom of Sicily. In 1837, during the cholera epidemic, the first Sicilian uprisings broke out to demand an alter ego for the Count of Syracuse, the king’s brother. Del Carretto, however, in order to achieve greater fusion between the subjects on either side of the Strait, increased the transfers of Sicilian officials to Naples and of Neapolitans to Sicily. It was then that Michele Amari, one of those transferred to Naples, published (1842) the first edition of the *Storia del Vespro*, a covert protest by the Sicilians against the Bourbons. In 1844 disturbances occurred on the mainland, ending with the execution of the Bandiera brothers.
In 1847 Luigi Settembrini published the *Storia del Vespro* (1847), which was followed by the execution of the Bandiera brothers.
1165 FERDINAND II OF THE TWO SICILIES — FERDINAND I OF NAPLES 1166