Alcune bandiere storiche della Sicilia.

 

royal flag  state flag

The Kingdom Sicily and Naples (i.e. all of the southern Italian peninsula) were a joint kingdom during many periods: 1130-1282, 1435-1458, 1503-1713, and 1720-1860 (except for the Napoleonic interlude). Naples was often the dominant power, and the terms "Kingdom of Naples" and "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies" are often interchangeable. How Naples came to be known as a second Sicily is a mystery to me too. During much of its history the Two Sicilies were under Spanish (Bourbon) domination. After the war of the Spanish Succession, Naples was ceded in 1713 to Austria, and Sicily to Savoy. In 1720 Austria exchanged Sardinia for Sicily (politics were different then!), and after the war of the Polish Succession in 1735 Austria ceded the Two Sicilies back to Spain under condition that they should never be united with Spain as a single kingdom. In 1860 Garibaldi invaded Sicily with a Piedmontese army, and then crossed the straits and defeated the Neapolitan army. Naples and Sicily voted by plebiscite to join the north, and in 1861 the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with Piedmontese Victor Emmanuel as its first king. T. F. Mills 5 August 1997

land flag   1848-1849   1860 Flag ; Adopted: 21 June 1860. Abolished: March 1861

Naples and Sicily were in Angevin hands when Charles I (1268-1282) lost Sicily in the war of the "Sicilian Vespers". Sicily offered its crown to Peter III of Aragon in 1282 (husband of Constance, Hohenstaufen heiress). Peter repulsed the Angevins, and then Frederick (1295-1337) married the daughter of Charles I Angevin and promised that Sicily would return to the Angevins at his death. The promise was not kept and the war resumed. In 1373 Giovanna I of Naples surrendered the Sicilian claim in return for tribute, and Sicily was ruled as a viceroyalty of Naples. In 1409 Sicily was reunited with Aragon, and Alfonso (1435-58) reunited it with Naples. In 1504 Spain conquered Naples, and held it until the war of the Spanish Succession, when Austria occupied it (1707). Austria ceded Naples & Sicily to Spain in 1735 on condition that they never be united with Spain under the same crown. T. F. Mills 24 March 1999 Description of the flags The Kingdom of Naples (later of the Two Sicilies), didn't have its own flag until 1735, when it become fully independent. The State flag was, from that time on, the white Bourbon flag charged with the Kingdom coat of arms. These arms were very complex and some of the details, expecially for the collars, changed during the times. The State flag, as already said, was white, in the proportions of 2:3, with the coat of arms, while the Royal flag, in the proportion of 6:7, was deep crimson with the same coat of arms in the middle.           notizie tratte da una pubblicazione di mario fabretto 29-MAR-1997