Corti, cerimoniali, regge e siti reali del Mezzogiorno d'Italia tra i Borbone e i Savoia.

This research examines the physical and political spaces of court life in Southern Italy under the Bourbon and Savoy dynasties. In the early modern period, these spaces were distributed between the Royal Palace of Naples, the Royal Palace of Caserta, and a number of royal sites; in the nineteenth century, under the Savoy monarchy, they became mainly concentrated at Capodimonte. The study of courts, palaces, royal residences, and royal sites has been interpreted in different ways by historiography. The perspective adopted in this work focuses on the material and immaterial spaces of the court, with particular attention to the use of royal palaces, royal residences, and royal sites in Southern Italy, first by the Bourbons and later by the Savoys, in a continuity that shows how sites used by the Bourbons were partly reused by the Savoys after Italian unification. The court represents the privileged place for the exercise of sovereignty, the organization of the monarchical apparatus, and the staging of ceremonies, and it is articulated through physical spaces, administrative functions, political rituals, and forms of sociability. The research focuses on two different monarchical experiences—the Bourbon monarchy of the eighteenth century and the Savoy monarchy of the nineteenth century—both characterized by the use of royal sites as instruments of government, representation, and the consolidation of sovereign power. For the Bourbons, starting with Charles III, the court gradually moved from the Royal Palace of Naples to the royal sites, which became privileged places for the exercise of sovereignty and the setting of monarchical rituals, particularly hunting, but also visits to archaeological excavations and the natural routes connecting the various royal residences. This experience fits within the Mediterranean model of the “decentralized court”, characterized by the decentralization of the spaces where power was exercised and by the parallel centralization of decision-making in the hands of the monarch and the Secretariats of State. With the Savoy monarchy, the function of the southern royal sites changed. The royal site of Capodimonte, acquired as property of the Ministry of the Royal Household, became, from the 1870s, the personal residence of Rosa Vercellana, the consort of Victor Emmanuel II. During the reign of Umberto I, a new policy toward the southern royal sites was introduced: Capodimonte became the seat of the court of the heir to the throne, who assumed the title of Prince of Naples, and was incorporated into the new monarchical strategies. Between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, Rome, Capodimonte, and the city of Naples became the centre of major monarchical and state ceremonies organized during the visits of European sovereigns and heads of state. These ceremonies were characterized by rich iconography, symbolic representation, and the participation of large crowds, which played a central role in the legitimation of the monarchy.