Editing Calabria (section)

=== French interlude and the Bourbon restoration ===
After regaining the throne, however, King Ferdinand was unable to consolidate his newly regained power, so much so that in 1806, faced with a new French invasion by [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s troops, he again had to take refuge in Palermo, under the protection of the [[Royal Navy|British navy]], while the Kingdom of Naples was entrusted by Napoleon to his older brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]]. However, numerous outbreaks of legitimist revolts did not mar in the continental Mezzogiorno, such as in Calabria, where a full-fledged popular insurrection, known as the Calabrian Insurrection, broke out, carried out by brigands, peasants and stragglers from the Bourbon army, supported also by British military units that had landed in the region. In order to tame the revolt, which lasted three years, it was necessary to commit substantial forces and two of the best French generals, [[André Masséna]] and [[Jean Maximilien Lamarque]], who also employed cruel and ruthless means, such as the right of reprisal against entire villages that flanked the brigands and sung the Bourbon, as in the case of the massacre of [[Lauria]], perpetrated by Massena's soldiers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lefebvre |first=Georges |title=Napoleone |publisher=Editori Laterza |year=2009 |location=Bari |language=it |trans-title=Napoleon}}</ref>

In spite of this, the period of Napoleonic rule caused great innovations and upheavals on the social and economic level: in fact, on August 2, 1806, Joseph Bonaparte decreed the subversion of feudalism, thus abolishing baronial jurisdictions, feudal-like personal benefits, and prohibitory rights, i.e., monopolies on certain productive activities. Lands and property put into liquidation and opened for commercial exploitation by the French government were purchased by members of the new agrarian bourgeoisie, which was beginning to gain increasing political clout. This was accompanied by an administrative division of the Kingdom, which by decree of Dec. 8, 1806, was divided into districts and boroughs: Calabria retained the division of the two provinces of “Citeriore,” whose capital remained in Cosenza, and “Ulteriore,”” which instead had Monteleone assigned as its administrative seat in place of Catanzaro, both because of its relative ease of communication and military necessity. Both Calabrian provinces, presided over by an intendant, were divided into four districts, placed under the jurisdiction of their respective sub-districts, which in turn were divided into districts, each of which grouped a certain number of municipalities. In 1810 there was a dynastic change on the throne of Naples: instead of Joseph Bonaparte, placed by the emperor his brother to rule newly conquered Spain, [[Joachim Murat]], Napoleon's brother-in-law as the husband of his sister [[Caroline Bonaparte]], became king of Naples. The new king resumed with more vigor the process of social and economic modernization of his new kingdom: he profoundly reformed the tax system, replacing the Bourbon tax levies such as the ''testatico'', the ''focatico'' and the ''tassa d'industria'', with a single direct land tax that was levied on land ownership; from 1811 he initiated government inquiries to learn about the living conditions of rural populations, while in the economic sphere he showed an interest in the exploitation of mineral resources, as in the case of the mines connected to the [[Mongiana]] ironworks in the Serre.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />

The period of Napoleonic rule ended in 1815, after the fall of Napoleon following the defeat at [[Battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]], which saw the return of the deposed Bourbon ruler to the throne, despite Murat's attempt in October of the same year to regain the throne with a small military expedition, which in his intentions was supposed to raise the whole of the continental Mezzogiorno. But the former king of Naples, having landed in [[Pizzo, Calabria|Pizzo Calabro]], was betrayed and captured by Bourbon troops: he was then sentenced to death by a military tribunal presided over by General [[Vito Nunziante]] and shot, on October 13, 1815, in the castle of the Calabrian town. Thus, having returned to the throne and consolidated his power, the Bourbon king initiated the administrative unification of the two kingdoms he ruled: in fact, with the law of December 16, 1816, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was born, of which Ferdinand was the first monarch with the name Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies.<ref name=":38" /><ref name=":63" />