Alfonso Doria Pamphili Landi
Prince of Melfi
Alfonso Doria Pamphili Landi, Prince of Melfi (25 September 1851 – 5 December 1914), was an Italian nobleman and politician. Born in Rome on 25 September 1851, a member of the family of the Roman nobility Doria Landi Pamphili, he was the son of Philip Andrew V and the English noblewoman Maria Alathea Talbot. He married Emilia Pelham Clinton, daughter of the VI Duke of Newcastle. In 1890, on the death of his brother Giovanni Andrea, without heirs, he assumed the noble titles of Prince of Melfi and the Holy Roman Empire. He was active at the court of Savoy and in several charitable institutions. He was a city councillor from 1893 to 1897. In 1894 he was appointed senator, chosen among the "persons who for three years have paid three thousand lire of direct taxation by reason of their assets or their industry". In 1898 he became president of the newly formed Cassa Nazionale della Previdenza (now INPS). He was also vice president of the Red Cross and was one of the founders of the School for Professional Nurses for abandoned children. He died on December 5, 1914 in Rome. Prince Alfonso and Emilia Pelham Clinton had three children.
The Army of the Two Sicilies, also known as the Royal Army of His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Reale esercito di Sua Maestà il Re del Regno delle Due Sicilie), the Bourbon Army (Esercito Borbonico) or the Neapolitan Army (Esercito Napoletano), was the land forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, whose armed forces also included a navy. It was in existence from 1734 to 1861. It was the land armed force of the new independent state created by the settlement of the Bourbon dynasty in southern Italy following the events of the War of the Polish Succession. Although the Royal Army arose only in 1734, the Neapolitan and Sicilian military institutions boast a much older history, which lays its foundations in the organization of a "state" army (i.e. state and no longer feudal) by Ferdinand I of Naples in 1464. In particular, during the Spanish period (1504-1714) customs used by Aragon in Sicily mixed old military traditions from the Norman, Arab, and Byzantine periods. All of these different cultures profoundly marked the military customs of the later Bourbon period. It can be seen in many examples of military clothing including items, such as the Turban which dated back to Emirate of Sicily. During this time the soldiers of southern Italy were in fact involved in almost all the military events of the Spanish Empire (from the Wars of Charles V to the Wars of Flanders, from colonial campaigns in America to the Thirty Years' War), often showing great value and loyalty to the Spanish government. The captains, belonging to the best feudal nobility of the Neapolitan and Sicilian provinces, were able to frame and prepare the subjects of the two vice-kingdoms for war, obeying the firm political direction given by the monarchs of Spain. In the later
Bourbon period, however, with the reconquest of independence, the nobility gradually lost this military character, giving way to the new centralizing policy of a dynastic imprint. The goal of the Bourbons was in fact to replace loyalty to the old noble commanders, who had served the Habsburgs for over 200 years, with an exasperated fidelity to the new national crown. This progressive disunity from the obsolete Iberian traditions, promoted by the reforms desired by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies, provoked in the eighteenth century a state of "disorientation" within the Bourbon military institutions that resulted in an almost frenetic sequence of restructuring and reform. Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet was involved with the reforms. The army in mainland Italy collapsed in 1806, and Joachim Murat created from scratch the Army of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic) based on French drill manuals and uniforms. Following Murat's fall from power, the mainland troops were integrated into King Ferdinand I's army. Following the constitutional revolt of 1820 by the army, and its defeat on 7 March 1821 by Austrian troops, the King temporarily disbanded the army, which was believed to be largely contaminated by Carbonari infiltration, and abolished compulsory conscription. It was therefore decided to leave the defence of the Kingdom to the Austrian occupation forces for some time. The reestablishment of the army began only in 1823. This restless evolution of the military structures of the Two Sicilies stopped only with the 1830 accession of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, who finally managed to stabilize and rationalize the military systems of the kingdom, giving it a definitively national and dynastic imprint. However, the evolution of the European and Neapolitan political framework of those last 30 years, which fully involved the army of the Two Sicilies, caused political dissent to turn directly against the same Bourbon ruling house.
The House of Doria Pamphilj Landi (also called simply Doria Pamphilj) was a princely Roman family of Genoese extraction. Legend has it that the origins of the Doria family date from the early 11th century, but the authentic pedigree is traced to Ansaldo d'Oria, consul of Genoa in the 12th century. The descent of the several Doria family lines in Genoa is well-known and is described in Natale Battilana's 19th-century genealogical study of old Genoese families. The Doria Pamphili Landi princely family was a sub-branch of the Doria di Oneglia branch: in 1291, two Doria brothers bought the lordship of Oneglia, which was co-owned by their descendants until the late 15th century. Admiral Andrea Doria was descended from a Doria di Oneglia, Genoese soldier Aitone Doria (also called Antonio Doria), who fought for the French at the Battle of Crécy. Famous members include Andrea Doria and Cardinal Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, who rose to the Papacy as Pope Innocent X. The marquisate of Civiez and the county of Cavallamonte were conferred on the family in 1576, the duchy of Tursi in
1594, the principality of Avella in 1607, the duchy of Avigliano in 1613, and the principality of Meldola in 1671. In 1760, the title of Reichsfürst or prince of the Holy Roman Empire was added and attached to the lordship of Torriglia and the marquisate of Borgo San Stefano, together with the qualification of Hochgeboren. That same year, the Dorias inherited the fiefs and titles of the house of Pamphilj of Gubbio, patricians of Rome and Princes of San Martino and Valmontone. The name then became Doria Pamphilj. They had already incorporated by marriage the wealthy inheritance of the Landi family.
Awards: Collar, sash and star of the Order of Saint George of the Reunion (Reale e militare ordine di San Giorgio della Riunione).
