'Bourbons' bid to boost South
Dynasty fans to open 'parliament' in Naples
08 December, 17:47
(ANSA) - Naples, December 8 - Admirers of the Bourbon dynasty that once held sway across southern Italy are bidding to restore its former glory with a 'parliament' in Naples.
The 'Neo-Bourbonic' Movement has declared its intention to move into Naples' famous Maschio Angioino castle, once home to the Bourbon kings, on January 16. Their resurrected government will appoint ministers for interior and foreign affairs as well as equal opportunites between northern and southern Italy, the movement's leader, Gennaro De Crescenzo, told Oggi magazine.
"We want to publicise our history, stir up rage, and turn it into pride," said De Crescenzo, whose group say they have tapped into longstanding southern resentment about the way unification was imposed on the South.
Although it is unclear whether Naples city council have been informed, De Crescenzo said he was determined to open the parliament to mark 150 years since the abdication of the last Bourbon king, Franceso III.
Italy is already gearing up to celebrate in 2011 the 150th anniversary of the end of the Risorgimento, the tumultuous and often bloody movement that led to Italy's rebirth as a single state in 1861.
Not everyone was happy with unification and some people in both northern and southern Italy think Italy should have stayed divided.
Both the Northern League, now a major political player, and the tiny Neo-Bourbons, who have been dismissed as a band of nostalgic dreamers, have played on anti-Rome sentiment.
But De Crescenzo told Oggi his group's initiative could not be dismissed as mere "folklore".
He stressed the members of the parliament would not be politicians but "professional people, the self-employed, lawyers, technical experts, university professors and businessmen". "We will train a new ruling class. We will analyse laws and measures to assess their impact on the South," he said, referring to legislation from the Italian parliament in Rome.
The Bourbon equivalent in the 13th Angevin castle will also have ministers for the economy, police, cultural heritage and communications, he said. But there would be no attempt to consult with Italy's established political groupings, De Crescenzo said. "We have no links to parties. The League tried, because of certain common issues, but then we didn't see them again".
Declaring that the assembly would help the South reclaim its "dignity", De Crescenzo stressed that while the Northern League's purported homeland of 'Padania' never historically existed, "the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was a united State for 13 centuries".
The Bourbons grew out of the French Capetian dynasty, founded in 987 AD, and eventually became Europe's biggest royal house, holding sway in France, Spain, Italy and Luxembourg.
Louis XIV, the 'Sun King' of France, was perhaps its most famous member.
The Spanish branch ruled southern Italy as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies from 1734 till 1806, when Napoleon's troops were forced out of Naples, and from 1815, when the French emperor was defeated at Waterloo, until 1860.
The largest of Italy's pre-unification states, it is more commonly called the Kingdom of Naples.
photo: Maschio Angioino
