Kingdom of Sicily incorporated into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies

The Kingdom of Sicily incorporated into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was a political reversal that extinguished Sicily’s constitutional experiment and placed the island under centralized Bourbon authority. Its consequences reach beyond the change of royal title: taxes, customs administration, military demands, and control of transport repeatedly make sovereignty tangible in the lives and business of the Florios.

Causes and Restoration

The settlement followed a decade of political upheaval. After Napoleon’s Russian campaign and defeat at Leipzig, Joachim Murat shifted his allegiance in an effort to retain his throne. The Austrians defeated him at Tolentino on May 2, 1815, and the Treaty of Casalanza, signed on May 20, sanctioned Ferdinand IV’s return to Naples. Ferdinand installed his son Francesco in Palermo as lieutenant-general of the realm.

The decisive change came on December 8, 1816, when the king staged a coup to unite the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily under one banner and took the name Ferdinand I, King of the Two Sicilies. The 1812 constitution was annulled. The island, once governed under a constitution that had curtailed Bourbon power and called for the abolition of fiefdoms, was now subjected to a harsh tax regime.

Centralization and Palermo’s Decline

The formal union became an administrative takeover. From December 1816, Neapolitans administered state offices and customs, and Neapolitan officers held military command. Palermo lost its power and independence; heavier taxation, restrictions, and constraints on trade compounded the city’s already faltering economy until it came to a halt.

The novel sets this contraction against the Florios’ earlier commercial expansion. Their warehouse within the Palazzo Steri property held spices in transit to other ports or awaiting sale, including goods sourced through British trade and French colonies. The arrangement allowed import tariffs to be paid only when merchandise entered Palermo, a practical way for wholesalers to avoid taxes on goods merely passing through. Under centralized rule, that kind of commercial maneuvering takes place within a system whose customs and fiscal authority increasingly belongs to the state.

State Power and Commercial Stakes

The political consequences recur in later crises, when control of commerce becomes a direct contest over resources. During the 1848 revolution, Ignazio reports that outgoing ships have been blocked while customs is in disarray and a provisional government is forming. The stoppage leaves merchants and seamen crowded outside the Customs House, illustrating how abruptly political uncertainty can interrupt the movement on which trade depends.

Vincenzo’s response to revolutionary authority is similarly conflicted. He buys a large consignment of rifles in England on behalf of the revolutionary committee, even as he resents the use of his money and ships for the struggle. Trade has fallen by half since the revolt began, and the revolutionary regime has taken the company’s Palermo steamer to transport troops. The episode does not treat political change as an abstraction: the cause of independence runs through the same vessels and capital that sustain the family business.

The later transfer of power to Piedmont brings a further accusation of extraction. Vincenzo says the new rulers are turning Sicily into a colony and have carried the Bourbon Crown treasury north to pay for the annexation campaign. As trade governor, he orders all cash and bank drafts placed in the Royal Bank’s safe, anticipating that Garibaldi’s men will requisition the substantial gold supply within hours. The act of safeguarding money under one administration occurs on the eve of its seizure by another.

Significance

Across the Bourbon restoration, revolutionary government, and unification, political authority is repeatedly shown through its ability to tax, regulate customs, stop ships, borrow commercial resources, and seize treasuries. The 1816 union establishes the pattern of Sicily’s loss of autonomy; later political projects contest who will command the island’s wealth without necessarily freeing it from outside control. For the Florios, commerce offers influence and a measure of protection, but their fleet, credit, and accumulated cash also make them available to states and governments in need of resources.