Ferdinand II

The Ferdinand II statue was discovered in the ruins of a royal Neopolitan villa.

During Garibaldi’s unification of Italy, he razed the home of the recently deceased Ferdinand II of Naples and Sicily in 1860. Later, locals unearthed this bust of the monarch from the ruins of the villa. Albert Daily, a local lumber merchant brought this re-discovered piece back to Providence in 1881. After enjoying this sculpture in his garden, he later donated it to the new Roger Williams Park.

Ferdinand II of Two Sicilies, nicknamed “King Bomba,” began his reign as an enlightened monarch but became unpopular and his subjects eventually considered him a despot. His death in 1859 precipitated Garibaldi’s invasion of Naples and Italy’s unification as a nation state.