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Francesco Caracciolo  Caracciolo
is an old and
prominent Neapolitan surname. There are at least 50
bearers of that
name in the current Naples phone book. Indeed, the name
has divided
into various branches over the
centuries—"Caracciolo–of–here" and
"Caracciolo–of–there," resulting in some very impressive
listings
in the directory. There is a "Prince Landolfo Amrogio
Caracciolo di
Melissano". That is the longest one I see, although,
without a
title, Francesco Alberto Caracciolo di Torchiarolo"
edges him out
by a few letters. (From the address in the phone book,
he is my
next-door neighbor, although I don't know why that
should matter to
me.)
There are even four different streets named via
Caracciolo in
Naples: Batistella Caracciolo (renowned painter of the Neapolitan
Baroque,
contemporary of Ribera and Caravaggio); Bartolomeo
Caracciolo,
about whom I know nothing; T. Caracciolo (the T stands
for Tristan,
I think); and the one that all Neapolitans think of
when they hear
the name "Caracciolo" —Francesco (portrait, above).
The splendid
road that runs from Mergellina to Piazza
Vittoria along the
sea, fronting the Villa Comunale, thus, is
named for
Francesco Caracciolo (1752-1799), the Neapolitan
admiral whose name
is dramatically linked in history with the rise and
fall of the
Neapolitan Republic of 1799 and with the principal
players in that
episode: Queen Caroline,
King
Ferdinand, Lady Hamilton,
and,
especially, Horatio Nelson. (Besides the links in the
previous
sentence, other entries about this
period include:
The Bourbons, part 1;
Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel;
Cardinal Ruffo, Lord Nelson
and Lady
Hamilton, and On Trial
for their
Reputations.) Francesco Caracciolo was born January 18, 1752 of a noble Neapolitan family. He entered the navy at a young age and fought with distinction with the Kingdom of Naples' ally, the British, in the American Revolutionary War. He also fought the Barbary pirates and against the French at Toulon. In December of 1798, the Neapolitan monarchy fled the capital in the face of the insurgent Neapolitan republican forces backed by the French army at the gates of the city. The King and Queen fled to Sicily on Nelson's ship, Vanguard, escorted by Caracciolo on the Neapolitan frigate Sannita. Caracciolo returned to Naples in January to take care of private matters and arrived in the city after the Republic had been declared. His behavior at that point has remained the subject of speculation. Either he resented being snubbed by King Ferdinand, who had fled aboard Nelson's vessel and not Caracciolo's, or he was appalled at the cowardly flight, itself, or he was truly taken with the newly proclaimed Neapolitan Republic. Whatever the case, he took command of the naval forces of the new Republic. In other words, he betrayed his king. He led the Republican navy against royalist
Neapolitan and
British naval forces for the brief life of the
Republic, his last
major engagement being an attack on the British
flagship,
Minerva, inflicting damage on that vessel. The
Republic,
however, was doomed by the withdrawal of French forces
from Naples
and by the arrival of the royalist Army of the Holy
Faith under
Cardinal Ruffo. Caracciolo was captured. His trial is
a matter of
record and takes place against the whole backdrop of
deceit by
which the Royalist forces actually retook the city.
The agreed to
an armistice, promised safe passage to Republican
defenders
(presumably including Caracciolo), and then put the
Republicans on
trial, anyway. The church of
Santa Maria della Catena,
final resting place of Admiral Caracciolo.
One of the mainstays of modern Neapolitan mythology
is that the
body refused to sink, floating to the surface and
eerily bobbing
its way towards shore. Indeed, there is even a
painting showing
King Ferdinand aboard his ship, aghast at the sight of
the
admiral's corpse floating alongside. Whatever the
case,
Caracciolo's body was retrieved from the sea and his
remains now
rest in the small church of Santa Maria
della Catena in the Santa Lucia section
of Naples
(photo, above). [Also see this excerpt
from Robert
Southey's Life of
Nelson
on the execution of Caracciolo.] |
There
was
never any doubt as to Caracciolo's fate. Queen
Caroline had relayed
to Nelson her wish that Caracciolo should hang, no
matter what.
Caracciolo was tried aboard a British ship, Foudroyant,
by
Neapolitan royalist officers and charged with high
treason. He was
not permitted to call witnesses in his defence. He was
condemned to
death by three votes to two. He was not given the
customary
twenty-four hours for personal matters of the spirit.
His request
to be shot was denied and he was hanged from the
yardarm of the
Minerva on the morning of June 30, 1799. His
body was
weighted and thrown into the sea.