Kingdom of Sicily

The Kingdom of Sicily is presented in the Decameron as both a contested political realm and a place where changes of rule reach directly into private lives. Its stories connect the defeat of Manfred and the rise of Charles I of Anjou to flight, imprisonment, and exile, then show a later revolt restoring Arrighetto Capece to power and reuniting his family. Other episodes place the kingdom under different rulers, making Sicily a recurring setting rather than a single, continuous political moment.

A Realm Changed by Conquest

In the account of Beritola Caracciola’s family, the kingdom’s crisis begins after the emperor’s death, when Manfred is crowned King of Sicily. Arrighetto Capece, a Neapolitan gentleman who holds the governance of the island, is among Manfred’s leading supporters. After Charles I of Anjou defeats and kills Manfred at Benevento, the realm passes to Charles. Arrighetto distrusts the Sicilians’ loyalty to their new ruler and prepares to flee rather than become a subject of his former lord’s enemy. His intentions are discovered, however, and the Sicilians seize him and other supporters of Manfred, delivering them to Charles along with possession of the island.

The change of sovereignty is not merely a shift at court. Beritola, pregnant and uncertain of what has become of her husband, abandons her possessions and escapes with her young son Giusfredi. She gives birth to Scacciato on Lipari while seeking refuge, then attempts to travel to Naples with both children. A storm drives the ship to Ponza instead. The succession crisis thus sets a family’s displacement in motion: political danger turns a journey home into separation and uncertain survival.

Revolt and the Restoration of Arrighetto

The kingdom’s rule changes again when Pedro of Aragon, with the agency of Giovanni da Procida, raises Sicily against Charles and takes it from him. The revolt reaches the story not through a battle scene but through news brought to Giusfredi, who has grown up under another name and been imprisoned. His captor’s political allegiance makes the news welcome in the household, but for the prisoner it first sharpens despair: after fourteen years of wandering in search of this reversal, he is locked away and sees no prospect of benefiting from it.

The news prompts Giusfredi to disclose who he is. He explains that he was born Giusfredi, the son of Arrighetto Capece, who governed Sicily under Manfred, and that he had been a small child when he fled the island. His confession transforms him from an obscure prisoner into the heir of a displaced political family. A messenger’s report from Sicily then confirms the significance of the revolt: when the uprising begins, the people free Arrighetto from captivity, make him their captain, and follow him in expelling and killing the French. Pedro restores Arrighetto’s honors and possessions, and he is once more in a position of favor and authority.

Restoration also repairs the family’s separation. During a feast celebrating the recognition of Giusfredi and the marriages arranged for him and his brother, the messenger announces that Arrighetto is alive and has heard of his wife and son’s recovery. Arrighetto sends a brigantine with gentlemen aboard to bring them to Sicily. Beritola, her sons, and their companions eventually sail to Palermo, where Arrighetto receives them with great joy. The kingdom’s political reversal therefore supplies the conditions for a private homecoming: the family can return because the ruler who displaced them has been overthrown and Arrighetto’s standing restored.

Sicily Under Other Kings

Other stories refer to Sicily under rulers and circumstances that are not part of the same political sequence. In the account of Gianni di Procida and Restituta, Frederick, King of Sicily, is a young ruler who delights in beautiful women. After Sicilian sailors abduct Restituta from Ischia, they carry her to Calabria and then present her to Frederick in Palermo. He orders her lodged and cared for at La Cuba, a garden pavilion, until he is stronger. The episode shows royal power operating through custody and household space: a woman taken by force passes from her captors into the king’s keeping.

A separate story is set in the days when King Guglielmo II of Sicily rules the island. Messer Amerigo Abate buys boys taken by Genoese corsairs, believing them to be Turks; among them is Teodoro, who is later baptized and called Pietro. These references locate the kingdom across different reigns and episodes, but the stories do not present them as one uninterrupted account of government. Instead, the island’s royal setting repeatedly determines who commands, who is vulnerable, and how a character’s status may change.

Political Power and Narrative Consequences

The kingdom’s significance lies in the way public upheaval enters domestic and personal affairs. Under Charles’s conquest, Arrighetto is captured and Beritola flees; after Pedro’s revolt, Arrighetto regains authority and his family can return. The same territory can therefore signify both the danger that drives people away and the political ground on which they are restored. Sicily is not simply a backdrop to these stories: its rulers, changes of allegiance, and places—including Lipari, Palermo, and La Cuba—shape the routes characters take and the outcomes available to them.

The episodes also keep political change distinct from personal resolution. The defeat of one ruler and restoration of another do not, by themselves, reunite a family; news, recognition, safe passage, and Arrighetto’s invitation are needed as well. Likewise, the royal household that receives Restituta follows an episode of abduction, not a voluntary journey to court. Across these different tales, the Kingdom of Sicily is portrayed as a realm where sovereign authority can decide the conditions of movement and security, while individual stories trace how people endure, exploit, or recover from those conditions.