Luigi de' Medici (22 April 1759 - 25 January 1830) was an Italian nobleman, legal scholar, diplomat and statesman, who served as

Prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

of the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

and the legal representative at the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

Early life

He belonged to the Neapolitan branch of the princely Florentine

House of Medici The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mug ...

, a cadet branch founded in 1567 by

Bernadetto de' Medici Bernadetto de' Medici (died after 1576) was an Italian patrician who moved from Florence to Naples and established the Ottaiano branch of Medici - one of two Medici branches still extant. Biography A member of a cadet branch of the Medici fami ...

after he acquired the vast fief of

Ottaviano Ottaviano ( nap, Uttajano) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about east of Naples and is located in the Vesuvian Area. Ottaviano was in Roman times a hamlet of houses within ...

. Luigi was born as a younger son of Michele de' Medici (fifth Prince of Ottaviano and fifth Duke of Sarno) (1719-1770) and his wife Carmela Filomarino (1725-1805).

Biography

Luigi de' Medici lived and worked through some of the most tumultuous periods of the Kingdom of Naples: straddling the final stages of the reactionary reforms of Sir John Acton; the short-lived

Parthenopean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( it, Repubblica Partenopea, french: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (''Repubblica Napoletana'') was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the ...

proclaimed in Naples by

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in 1799; the

Sanfedismo Sanfedismo (from ''Santa Fede'', "Holy Faith" in Italian) was a popular anti-Jacobin movement, organized by Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo, which mobilized peasants of the Kingdom of Naples against the Pro-French Parthenopaean Republic in 1799, its ai ...

(its fall); the retreat of the

Bourbon Bourbon may refer to: Food and drink * Bourbon whiskey, an American whiskey made using a corn-based mash * Bourbon barrel aged beer, a type of beer aged in bourbon barrels * Bourbon biscuit, a chocolate sandwich biscuit * A beer produced by Bras ...

court to

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

under English protection after Napoleon took Naples a second time (1806); their restoration; and the eventual suppression of the Sicilian constitution and autonomy when the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily were unified into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (1816).

References

Politicians of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies Prime ministers of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies 1759 births 1830 deaths 18th-century Neapolitan people 19th-century Neapolitan people

Luigi is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. Created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto, Luigi is portrayed as the younger fraternal twin brother and sidekick of Mario, Nintendo's masc ...

Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain Participants to the Congress of Vienna {{Italy-politician-stub