120 Grana Italian city-states Silver Ferdinand I of the Two Sicil ...

Mint Year: 1818 Reference: KM-281 ($275 in VF!) Denominations: 120 Grana (Piastra) Condition: Tooled and improperly cleaned (scratches and hairlines) in obverse, otherwise VF-XF! Material: Silver (.833) Weight: 27.23gm Diameter: 37mm

Obverse: Crowned bust of Ferdinand I as King of the Two Sicilies right. Date (1818)
below. Legend: FERD . I . D . G . REGNI SICILIARVM ET HIER . REX / 1818
Reverse: Crowned coat-of-arms with a small central bourbon shield, adorned with various cross-orders hanging around
central “Golden Fleece” Order. Legend: HISPANIARVM INFANS . G . 120 .

The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Regno delle Due Sicilie)
was the largest of the states of the region known as Italy before the so-called Italian unification (there was no state called Italy at the time). It was formed as a union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, which collectively had long been called the “Two Sicilies”(Utraque Sicilia, literary “both Sicilies”). The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies lasted from 1816 until 1860, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, which eventually became the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The capital of The Two Sicilies was in Naples and was commonly referred to in English as the “Kingdom of Naples”. The kingdom extended over the Mezzogiorno (the southern part of mainland Italy) and the island of Sicily. Lancaster notes that the integration of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into the Kingdom of Italy changed the status of Naples forever: “Abject poverty meant that, throughout Naples and Southern Italy, thousands decided to leave in search of a better future.” Many went to the United States. The kingdom was heavily agricultural, like the other Italian states; the church owned 50–65% of the land by 1750.

Ferdinand I (Ferdinando Antonio Pasquale Giovanni Nepomuceno Serafino Gennaro Benedetto, January 12, 1751 – January 4, 1825) was King variously of Naples, Sicily, and the Two Sicilies from 1759 until his death.
He was the third son of King Charles VII of Naples, later Charles III of Spain, King of Sicily by his wife Maria Amalia of Saxony. On August 10, 1759, Charles succeeded his brother as King Charles III of Spain. Treaty provisions made Charles unable to hold the titles of all three Kingdoms. On October 6, 1759 he therefore abdicated in favour of his son Ferdinand (Charles’s eldest son, Philip, was mentally retarded and the second son, Charles, was destined to inherit the Spanish throne).

Ferdinand was styled both strong>Ferdinand III of Sicily (October 6, 1759 – December 8, 1816) and Ferdinand IV of Naples (October 6, 1759 – January 23, 1799; June 13, 1799 – March 30, 1806; May 3, 1815 – December 8, 1816).

On January 23, 1799, the Kingdom of Naples was declared to be abolished and replaced by the Parthenopaean Republic which only lasted until June 13, 1799. Ferdinand was restored to the throne for a while. On December 26, 1805, Napoleon I of France declared Ferdinand deposed again and replaced him with his own brother Joseph Bonaparte on March 30, 1806. Ferdinand was restored for a third time by right of the Austrian victory at the Battle of Tolentino (May 3, 1815) over rival monarch King Joachim I. On December 8, 1816 he merged the thrones of Sicily and Naples to the throne of the Two Sicilies. He continued to rule until his death on January 4, 1825. However, his reign up until 1812 was mainly dominated by his wife.