SICILIES, THE TWO. 



.May, suffered from u tremendous flood. Steam 

 navigation was introduced, in 18'24, between Pa- 

 lermo and Naples; a loan of a million duruts, con- 

 tracted with Rothschild, in 1824, was applied to 

 the improvement of the roads in Sicily. Francis 

 died November 8, 1830 ; his son Ferdinand II. suc- 

 ceeded. 



The kingdom of the Two Sicilies contains, ut 

 present, 42, lu) square miles, and 7,414,717 inha- 

 bitants. The kingdom of Naples contains 31,630 

 s.juare miles with 5,626,946 inhabitants. (Re- 

 specting the isiand of Sicily, see the next article.) 

 Naples is bounded on the north by the papal 

 dominions, east by the Adriatic, south and west by 

 the Mediterranean. Its soil is principally volcanic, 

 and is covered with the most luxuriant vegetation. 

 Fertile valleys descend on both sides of the Appen- 

 nines towards the sea. Separate from these lies 

 Vesuvius, 3730 feet high. The rivers are but few, 

 and of moderate size. The volcanic soil is often 

 convulsed by earthquakes. The Monte Nuovo, 

 .near Puzzuoli, arose in 1538, and attained, within 

 forty-eight hours, to the height of 2100* feet. 

 Through the grotto of Posilippo, near Naples, you 

 pass, on a lava road, to the Phlegrsean fields, 

 whence the ancient poets took the imagery of the 

 war of the giants, and of the infernal regions. 

 Here the pozzolana earth is dug. This desert, as 

 well as the extinct volcano of Solfatara and lake 

 Averno, is bounded by blooming vineyards, with 

 fruit-trees. Here you behold splendid ruins of 

 ancient edifices, on the Mare morto, near the Ely- 

 sian fields. In the charming environs of the capital 

 lies the lake of Agnano, a sunken volcano, and in 

 its neighbourhood the grotto del Cane. (See 

 Naples.') The climate is warm. In Abruzzo 

 alone the winter is severe. The strawberry ripens 

 in January. The summer is sultry, and brings 

 with it the debilitating sirocco wind from the 

 south-east. The chief productions of this beautiful 

 country, which is, however, not even yet sufficiently 

 cultivated, are excellent wheat, maize, fruits of 

 various kinds, oil, hemp, and flax, cotton, the nuces 

 Avellarue of Pliny, wines (lachrymcE Christi), capers, 

 saffron, &c. The Neapolitan horses, the breed of 

 swine, in Abruzzo, the silk, wool, buffaloes, mules, 

 poultry, quails, &c., are celebrated. Among the 

 noxious animals are wolves, tarantulas, and scor- 

 pions. Important articles of trade are furnished by 

 the pozzolana earth, marine, and fossil salt, marble, 

 iron, brimstone, jasper, lava, alabnster, alum, salt- 

 petre, &c. There is, however, a deficiency of 

 wood, so that in some places buffalo dung is used 

 as fuel. In this warm country, however, the date- 

 palm, the Spanish cane, the aloe, and Indian fig, 

 thrive. The Neapolitan is lively, intelligent, and 

 good-natured, but impoverished and exasperated by 

 feudal oppression; the defective administration of 

 justice often allows excesses, and the banditti are 

 not yet rooted out. The Neapolitan dialect differs 

 much from the Italian employed in literature. In 

 the south, near Otranto, you will meet with vil- 

 lages inhabited by Arnauts and Greeks (about 

 40,000). Manufactures are more flourishing in 

 Naples than in Sicily. Naples contains silk, 

 woollen, and cotton manufactories; linen is woven, 

 nrid metal ware made, besides articles of marble 

 and precious stones. Mining is neglected. The 

 maritime commerce is almost confined to exports 

 of natural productions. The inland commerce is 

 obstructed by the want of good roads, canals, and 

 navigable rivers. The piincipal commercial towns 



are Naj.Ks, Palermo, and Messina. The people 

 are extremely Ignorant, being mostly unable to read 

 and write. Among the better class, however, 

 there are persons of distinguished talents, particu- 

 larly among the Neapolitans. Antiquities are a 

 favourite subject of study. The people are pas- 

 sionate lovers of music. Cicero, Horace, Ovid, 

 Juvenal, Statius, Tasso, Thomas Aquinas, Filan- 

 gieri, Galiani, and other men of eminence in the arts 

 and sciences, were natives of Naples. Sicily is the 

 native soil of pastoral poetry. There are univer- 

 sities at Naples, Salerno, Palermo, and Catania, 

 and academies at Naples and Palermo. There are 

 schools for music, and cabinets of works of art at 

 Naples (Museo fiorbonico, with a particular gallery 

 for the paintings of the Neapolitan school); the 

 Herculaneum museum atPortici; a cabinet of medals 

 and an observatory at Palermo. In Naples, there 

 are four public libraries and forty-five printing- 

 offices. The institution for the deaf and dumb 

 deserves mention; likewise the lunatic hospital at 

 A versa, which is peculiarly well arranged. The 

 kingdom of Naples (al di qua del Faro), in 1817, 

 was divided into fifteen provinces Naples, with 

 the volcanic islands Capri, Procida, and Ischia; 

 Abruzzo, Ulteriore I. and II., with Aquila, Sul- 

 mona, &c. ; Abruzzo Citeriore; Terra di Lavoro, 

 with Caserta, Gaeta, Arpino, and the volcanic 

 island Ponza; Principato Citeriore, with Salerno, 

 Amalfi, and Paestum; Principato Ulteriore; Capi- 

 tanata; Molise; Bari; Otranto, with Lecce ; Basi- 

 licata; Calabria Citeriore, and Ulteriore I. and II., 

 with Reggio, Sciglio (where the rock so celebrated 

 among the ancients, under the name of Scylla, pro- 

 jects into the strait) and Pizzo, where Murat fell, 

 and which the kiiig called the most faithful town, 

 and delared free of taxes, on account of its fidelity. 

 The united kingdom of the Two Sicilies forms, ac- 

 cording to the fundamental law of 12th December, 

 1816, a constitutional monarchy, hereditary in tho 

 male and female line. Agreeably to this law, 

 which, however, was never carried into effect, the 

 king possesses supreme executive power. In the 

 absence of the king, a governor (luoyotenente gene- 

 rale) resides in Palermo, as viceroy of Sicily. This 

 was the crown-prince until 1820. All public offices 

 in the island are to be held by natives. The feudal 

 system is now abolished in Sicily. It was earlier 

 abolished in Naples. It existed at the time of the 

 breaking out of the revolution, July 7, 1820. By 

 the concordate concluded with the pope in 1818, 

 the bond of feudal dependence on the papal see was 

 totally broken, and the papal power in general 

 limited. Nevertheless, the Jesuits were re-estab- 

 lished. The duchies of Pontecorvo and Benevento 

 were restored to the papal government. The clergy 

 of the Two Sicilies (twenty-four archbishops, ninety- 

 one suffragan, and twenty-one exempt bishops, 368 

 abbots, 47,233 secular priests, 25,399 monks, 26,659 

 nuns, with 3700 parishes, and 19,300 pious insti- 

 tutions, in the kingdom of Naples, and three arch- 

 bishops, seven bishops, fifty-one abbots and priors, 

 and 70 80,000 clergymen of all kinds, on the 

 island of Sicily) are in possession of nearly a third 

 of the landed property. The inquisition was 

 abolished in Sicily in 1782. In no country aie 

 there so many princes (120), dukes (150), mar- 

 quisses (170), counts and barons, as in Naples. 

 However, the king abolished the Jidei-commissa 

 (q. v.) in Sicily (1818), which threatened to bring 

 the whole of the landed property into a few hands, 

 and were a great impediment to moral improve- 



