by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was located in southern Italy. It included the island of Sicily and all of the Italian peninsula south of the Papal States. Ferdinando I, the first King of the Two Sicilies, had previously reigned over two kingdoms, as Ferdinando IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinando III of the Kingdom of Sicily. He had been deposed twice from the throne of Naples: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna restored Ferdinando’s rights to the throne of Naples and Sicily and he returned to Naples on June 17, 1815. In 1816, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.

Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies. Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ceased to exist, and its territory was incorporated into the Kingdom of Sardinia. Eventually, the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Kings of the Two Sicilies (1816 – 1860)

• Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily (reigned 1759 – 1816), King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1816 – 1825)
• Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1825 – 1830)
• Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1830 – 1859)
• Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1859 – 1861)

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Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy

• Official Website: Basilica of Santa Chiara
• Unofficial Royalty: Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy

The Basilica of Santa Chiara is a religious complex in Naples, Italy that includes the Church of Santa Chiara, an adjoining former monastery, and an archaeological museum. The church is the burial place of the Kings of Naples from the House of Anjou (1282 – 1501) and the Kings of the Two Sicilies from the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1816 – 1861). The basilica is dedicated to Saint Clare of Assisi (Santa Chiara d’Assisi in Italian), one of the first followers of Saint Francis of Assisi and the founder of the women’s religious order the Poor Clares.

The religious complex, built from 1313 – 1340, was founded by Robert of Anjou, King of Naples and his wife Sancha of Majorca, who are both buried at the basilica. During World War II, an Allied bombing on August 4, 1943, caused a fire that lasted two days which partially destroyed part of the interior of the church. The reconstruction of the damaged area was completed in 1953 and the church was reopened to the public.

Members of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies were buried in the baroque-style Bourbon Chapel which was not damaged in the 1943 World War II bombing. Several children of Carlos III, King of Spain who was also King of Naples and King of Sicily were also buried in the Bourbon Chapel. The remains of Francesco II, the last King of the Two Sicilies, his wife Maria Sophia of Bavaria, and their daughter Maria Cristina who died in infancy were originally buried at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans in Rome. In 1984, their remains were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara.

On January 25, 2014, the Basilica of Santa Chiara was the site of the beatification ceremony of Maria Cristina of Savoy, the first wife of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies. Maria Cristina was called “the Holy Queen” for her deep religious devotion. She was constantly ill which she patiently endured with her piety and was popular with the people for her charity, modesty, and humility. When Maria Cristina was 23-year-old, she died from childbirth complications giving birth to her only child, the future Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies. On July 10, 1872, Maria Cristina was declared to be a Servant of God and on May 6, 1937, she was declared a Venerable Servant of God. On May 3, 2013, Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle due to her intercession and approved Maria Cristina’s beatification. She is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and is one step away from canonization as a saint.

• Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies: Beatification of Maria Cristina of Savoy

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All portraits and photos are from Wikipedia unless otherwise noted. There are no tomb photos for burials at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples. All royal coffins are in a sealed crypt.

Ferdinando I, King of Naples and Sicily (reigned 1759 – 1816), King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1816 – 1825)

• Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies

Born on January 12, 1751, at the Royal Palace in the Kingdom of Naples, Ferdinando I was the third son of King Carlos VII of Naples/King Carlos V of Sicily and Maria Amalia of Saxony. In 1759, upon the death of his brother King Ferdinand VI of Spain, Carlos of Naples and Sicily succeeded him as King Carlos III of Spain. Because of treaties, Carlos could not be the sovereign of all three kingdoms. His eldest son Felipe was excluded from the succession because of illness and his second son Carlos was the heir apparent to the Spanish throne. That left the third son Ferdinando to become King of Naples and King of Sicily. In 1816, the two kingdoms were united into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ferdinando I and his wife Maria Carolina of Austria had seventeen children. Ferdinando I died from a stroke in Naples on January 4, 1825, at the age of 73. He was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Carolina of Austria, Queen of Naples and Sicily

Maria Carolina was one of the sixteen children of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia and her husband Francis, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Duke of Lorraine. She was born on August 13, 1752, at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. Maria Carolina was three years older than her ill-fated sister Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria better known as Marie Antoinette, Queen of France. In 1768, Maria Carolina married the future Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies, then the King of Naples and Sicily. The couple did not like each other but they did their dynastic duty and had seventeen children. Maria Carolina died from a stroke, aged 62, on September 8, 1814, at Hetzendorf Palace in Vienna, Austria before her husband became King of the Two Sicilies. She was buried at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria, the traditional burial site of her birth family, the House of Habsburg.

Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia

• Unofficial Royalty: Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Floridia

Lucia Migliaccio was the morganatic second wife of Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies. Born on July 19, 1770, in Syracuse, Kingdom of Sicily, she was the daughter of Vincenzo Migliaccio, Duke of Floridia and Dorotea Borgia dei Marchesi del Casale, and inherited her father’s dukedom. She married her first husband Benedetto Grifeo, Prince of Partanna, who predeceased her, and they had five children. Less than three months after the death of his first wife, Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies married Lucia. Because the marriage was morganatic, Lucia was not Queen. Lucia survived her husband by a little more than a year, dying on April 26, 1826, aged 55, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy. She was buried at the Church of San Ferdinando in Naples.

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Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1825 – 1830)

• Unofficial Royalty: Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies

Francesco I was the son of Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies and Maria Carolina of Austria. He was born at the Royal Palace of Naples on August 19, 1777. Francesco’s first wife Maria Clementina of Austria gave birth to one daughter and one son (who died in infancy). She died shortly after her son’s birth from tuberculosis. Francesco I married again to María Isabella of Spain and the couple had twelve children. After only a five-year reign, Francesco I died on November 8, 1830, aged 53, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, and was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

Maria Clementina of Austria, Duchess of Calabria

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Clementina of Austria, Duchess of Calabria

Maria Clementina of Austria was one of the sixteen children of Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Luisa of Spain. She was born on April 24, 1777, at the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Poggio Imperiale, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. When her father became Holy Roman Emperor in 1790, the family moved to Vienna, Austria. In 1790, Maria Clementina married by proxy her double first cousin, the future Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies. However, because of the effect the Napoleonic Wars had on the Italian peninsula, Maria Clementina was not able to travel from Vienna to Naples until 1797, when she was married in person to Francesco. She gave birth to one daughter and one son (who died in infancy). She died shortly after her son’s birth from tuberculosis, aged 24, on November 15, 1801, in Naples and was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples. Maria Clementina died before her husband became King of the Two Sicilies so she was never Queen.

​Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Isabella of Spain, Queen of the Two Sicilies

Born on July 6, 1789, in the Royal Palace of Madrid in Spain, Maria Isabella was one of the fourteen children of King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. After the death of his first wife, the 25-year-old future Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies married his 13-year-old first cousin Maria Isabella in 1802. In 1825, Francesco I became King of the Two Sicilies upon the death of his father but he died only five years later. Maria Isabella survived her husband by eighteen years, dying on September 13, 1848, at the Palace of Portici in Portici, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy. She was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

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Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1830 – 1859)

• Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies

Born on January 12, 1810, in Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily, now in Italy, Ferdinando II was the son of Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Maria Isabella of Spain. In 1832, he married Maria Cristina of Savoy who died in 1836 from childbirth complications giving birth to her only child, the future Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies. A year later, Ferdinando II married Maria Theresa of Austria and the couple had twelve children. During Ferdinando II’s reign, the Italian unification movement led by Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia and Giuseppe Garibaldi, a noted general and politician began. Ferdinando II died on May 22, 1859, aged 49, in Caserta, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now In Italy, and was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Cristina of Savoy, Queen of the Two Sicilies

Maria Cristina was the daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Maria Teresa of Austria-Este. She was born in Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, now in Italy, on November 14, 1812. She married Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies on November 21, 1832. On January 21, 1836, five days after giving birth to her only child, the future Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies, 23-year-old Maria Cristina died from childbirth complications. She was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

Maria Cristina had been called “the Holy Queen” for her deep religious devotion. The Roman Catholic Church opened a cause for her possible canonization as a saint. In 1872 she was declared to be a Servant of God, in 1937 a Venerable Servant of God, and in 2013 Pope Francis authorized a decree recognizing a miracle due to her intercession, allowing Maria Cristina to be beatified. Her beatification took place on January 25, 2014, at the Basilica of Santa Chiara where she is buried. She is known in the Roman Catholic Church as Blessed Maria Cristina of Savoy and is one step away from canonization as a saint.

Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

Maria Theresa was born at Weilburg Castle near Vienna, Austria on July 31, 1816. She was the eldest of the seven children of Archduke Karl of Austria, Duke of Teschen and Henrietta of Nassau-Weilburg. She met her future husband, the recently widowed Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies, during his stay in Vienna in July 1836, and they married on January 9, 1837. The couple had twelve children. Maria Theresa survived her husband by eight years, dying on August 8, 1867, at the age of 51 from cholera in Albano Laziale, Kingdom of Italy, now in Italy. She was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples.

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Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies (reigned 1859 – 1861)

• Unofficial Royalty: Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies

Francesco II was the last King of the Two Sicilies. Invasions by Giuseppe Garibaldi and Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia resulted in the end to his rule as part of Italian unification. After he was deposed, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies merged into the newly formed Kingdom of Italy with Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia becoming the first king of the new Kingdom of Italy. Born on January 16, 1836, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, Francesco II was the only child of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies and his first wife Maria Cristina of Savoy. His mother died from childbirth complications five days after his birth. Francesco II married Duchess Maria Sophie in Bavaria. They had one daughter who died in infancy.

After Francesco lost his throne, he spent his life living in Austria, France, and Bavaria. He died on December 27, 1894, aged 58, in Arco, Austria-Hungary, now in Italy. The remains of Francesco II, his wife Maria Sophia of Bavaria, and their daughter Maria Cristina who died in infancy were originally buried at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans (link in Italian) in Rome. In 1984, their remains were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy. After Francesco died, half-brother Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta became the pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In December 2020, Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, Archbishop of Naples announced the opening of the cause for Francesco’s possible canonization as a saint. Francesco is known in the Roman Catholic Church as a Servant of God.

Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

• Unofficial Royalty: Maria Sophie of Bavaria, Queen of the Two Sicilies

Duchess Maria Sophie in Bavaria was born on October 4, 1841, at Possenhofen Castle in Possenhofen, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. She was one of the ten children of Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, and also a younger sister of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi), the wife of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Her marriage in 1859 to Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies was political as Francesco wanted to ally himself with Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Maria Sophie survived her husband by thirty-one years, dying at the age of 83 on January 19, 1925, in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. She was initially buried with her husband and infant daughter at the Church of the Holy Spirit of the Neapolitans in Rome. In 1984, their remains were transferred to the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples, Italy.

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