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Portrait Francesco Ricciardi, Minister of Justice Kingdom of Naples c.1808
Francesco Ricciardi was minister of justice in the Kingdom of Sicily under Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte and later under Joachim Murat.
Description
Francesco Ricciardi was minister of justice in the Kingdom of Sicily, he is shown in the uniform of mister of justice wearing the sash, star and order of the Two Sicillies, awarded to him by King Joseph Napoleon. Ricciardi served under King Joseph Napoleon as well as King Joachim Napoleon Murat.
Provenance
Francesco Ricciardi 1808
History & Context
Francesco Ricciardi was minister of justice in the Kingdom of Sicily under Joseph Napoleon Bonaparte and later under Joachim Murat.
Ricciardi graduated in law at the University of Naples, and successfully practiced law in the capital, specializing in matters concerning feudal rights. A man of vast cultural interests, he was in contact with some of the leaders of the Enlightenment (for example, Cesare Beccaria, the brothers brothers Pietro and Alessandro Verri, Gian Domenico Romagnosi, Ludovico Savioli, etc.) whom he later met personally on a study trip in 1789. He married the marquis Luisa Granito (1769-1832), known on the occasion of the defense of the bishop of Lettere Bernardo della Torre from the accusations of having supported the French. Their son Giuseppe (1808-1882) will be one of the greatest exponents of political radicalism in the Risorgimento.
He did not participate in political life during the Neapolitan Republic (1799). Instead, he served under both Giuseppe Bonaparte and Gioacchino Murat: he was a councilor of the state, the steward of Bari, and played an important part in the development of the new legal codes. In November 1809 he was named "grand judge", that is Minister of Justice, a position he accepted after receiving guarantees on the independence of the judiciary from the executive power. He established the law for the formation of new magistrates (1812) . For these activities in 1809 he obtained a seat at the Academy of Sciences and the title of "Count of Camaldoli".
Having retired to private life after the Restoration, during the constitutional period of 1820 Francesco Ricciardi was again the Minister of Justice of the Two Sicilies, a position he left in December 1820 after disagreements with parliament. Ricciardi believed that, to guarantee its independence, the magistrates should not be subjected to the appointment of a state council which is itself controlled by the parliament. After the re-establishment of the absolute monarch regime in 1821. He remained in the realm of the Two Sicilies; in 1827-28 he travelled to central and northern Italy during which he was able to meet Pietro Colletta in Florence, who read to him parts of the history he was writing.
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