Parthenopean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( ) was a French First Republic - supported republic in the territory of the Kingdom of Naples , formed during the French Revolutionary Wars after King Ferdinand IV fled before advancing French troops . The republic existed from 23 January 1799 to 13 June 1799 , when Ferdinand ' s kingdom was re - established . Origins of the Republic . On the outbreak of the French Revolution King Ferdinand IV of Naples and Queen Maria Carolina did not at first actively oppose reform ; but after the fall of the French monarchy they became violently opposed to it , and in 1793 joined the first coalition against France , instituting severe persecutions against all who were remotely suspected of French sympathies . Republicanism , however , gained ground , especially among the aristocracy . In 1796 peace with France was concluded , but in 1798 , during Napoleon ' s absence in Egypt and after Nelson ' s victory at the Battle of the Nile , Maria Carolina induced Ferdinand to go to war with France once more . Nelson himself arrived in Naples in September 1798 , where he was enthusiastically received . The Neapolitan army had 70 , 000 men hastily summoned under the command of the Austrian general Karl von Mack : on October 29 it entered Rome , which had been evacuated by the French , to restore the Papal authority . But after a sudden French counterattack his troops were forced to retreat , and eventually routed . A contemporary satirist said of the king ' s conquest of Rome : " He came , he saw , he fled " . The king hurried back to Naples . Although the " lazzaroni " ( the lowest class of the people ) were devoted to the Bourbon dynasty and ready to defend it , he embarked on Nelson ' s " Vanguard " and fled with his court to Palermo in a panic . The prince Francesco Pignatelli Strongoli took over the city and the fleet was burned . The wildest confusion prevailed , and the " lazzaroni " massacred numbers of persons suspected of republican sympathies , while the nobility and the educated classes , finding themselves abandoned by their king , began to contemplate a republic under French auspices to avoid anarchy . On January 12 , 1799 , Pignatelli signed in Sparanise the surrender to the French general Championnet . Pignatelli also fled to Palermo in January 16 , 1799 . When the news of the treaty with the French reached Naples and the provinces , the " lazzaroni " rebelled . Those , though ill - armed and ill - disciplined , resisted the enemy with desperate courage . In the meantime the Jacobin and Republican parties of Naples surged , and civil war broke out . On 20 January 1799 the Republicans conquered the fortress of Castel Sant ' Elmo , and therefore the French could enter the city . The casualties were 8 , 000 Neapolitans and 1 , 000 French . The Republic . On 23 January 1799 the Parthenopean Republic was proclaimed . An unofficial alternate name , the Parthenopaean Republic , referred to an ancient Greek colony " Parthenope " on the site of the future city of Naples . The Republic had no real domestic constituency , and existed solely due to the power of the French Army . The Republic ' s leaders were men of culture , high character and birth , such as Gennaro Serra , The Prince of Cassano , but they were doctrinaire and impractical , and they knew very little of the lower classes of their own country . The new government soon found itself in financial difficulties , owing to Championnet ' s demands for money ( he was later relieved for graft ) ; it failed to organise an army ( and thus dependant on French protection ) , and met with little success in its attempts to " democratise " the provinces . Meanwhile the court at Palermo sent Cardinal Fabrizio Ruffo , a wealthy and influential prelate , to Calabria to organize a counter - revolution . He succeeded beyond expectation , and with his " Christian army of the Holy Faith " ( " Esercito Cristiano della Santa Fede " ) , consisting of brigands , convicts , peasants and some soldiers , marched through the kingdom plundering , burning and wantoly killing supporters of the Republic . An English squadron approached Naples and occupied the island of Procida , but after a few engagements with the Republican fleet commanded by Francesco Caracciolo , an ex - officer in the Bourbon navy , it was recalled to Palermo , as the Franco – Spanish fleet was expected . Ruffo , supported by the Russian and Turkish ships under command of Admiral Ushakov , now marched on the capital , whence the French , except for a small force under Méjean , withdrew . The scattered Republican detachments were defeated , only Naples and Pescara holding out . On 13 June 1799 Ruffo and his troops reached Naples , and after a desperate battle at the Ponte della Maddalena , entered the city . For weeks the Calabresi and " lazzaroni " continued to pillage and massacre , and Ruffo was unable , even if willing , to restrain them . But the Royalists were not masters of the city , for the French in Castel Sant ' Elmo and the Republicans in Castel Nuovo and Castel dell ' Ovo still held out and bombarded the streets , while the Franco – Spanish fleet might arrive at any moment . Consequently Ruffo was desperately anxious to come to terms with the Republicans for the evacuation of the castles , in spite of the queen ’ s orders to make no terms with the rebels . After some negotiation the parties concluded an armistice and agreed on capitulation ( " onorevole capitolazione " ) , whereby the castles were to be evacuated , the hostages liberated and the garrisons free to remain in Naples unmolested or to sail for Toulon . While the vessels were being prepared for the voyage to Toulon all the hostages in the castles were liberated save four ; but on 24 June 1799 Nelson arrived with his fleet , and on hearing of the capitulation he refused to recognise it except insofar as it concerned the French . Ruffo indignantly declared that once the treaty was signed , not only by himself but by the Russian and Turkish commandants and by the British Captain Edward Foote , it must be respected , and on Nelson ’ s refusal he said that he would not help him to capture the castles . On 26 June 1799 Nelson changed his attitude and authorised Sir William Hamilton , the British minister , to inform the cardinal that he ( Nelson ) would do nothing to break the armistice ; while Captains Bell and Troubridge wrote that they had Nelson ’ s authority to state that the latter would not oppose the embarcation of the Republicans . Although these expressions were equivocal , the Republicans were satisfied and embarked on the vessels prepared for them . But on June 28 Nelson received despatches from the court ( in reply to his own ) , in consequence of which he had the vessels brought under the guns of his ships , and many of the Republicans were arrested . Caracciolo , who had been caught whilst attempting to escape from Naples , was tried by a court - martial of Royalist officers under Nelson ’ s auspices on board the admiral ’ s flagship , condemned to death and hanged at the yard arm . Aftermath . On 8 July 1799 , King Ferdinand arrived from Palermo , and the subsequent trials were conducted in the most arbitrary fashion . Ninety - nine persons were executed , including Prince Gennaro Serra , who was publicly beheaded , and others , such as the intellectual Mario Pagano who had written the republican constitution ; the scientist Domenico Cirillo ; Gabriele Manthoné , the minister of war under the republic ; Massa , the defender of Castel dell ' Ovo ; Ettore Carafa , the defender of Pescara , who had been captured by treachery ; and Eleonora Fonseca Pimentel , court - poet turned revolutionary and editor of " il Monitore Napoletano " , the newspaper of the republican government . More than 500 other people were imprisoned , and some 350 deported or exiled . The subsequent censorship and oppression of all political movement was far more debilitating for Naples . After these events were reported in Britain , Charles James Fox denounced Nelson in the House of Commons for the admiral ' s part in " the atrocities at the Bay of Naples " .