Luisa Sanfelice

Luisa Sanfelice painted by Giovacchino Toma.

Luisa or Luigia Sanfelice (1764–1800) was an Italian aristocrat who was executed by Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies because of her involvement with the French-backed Parthenopean Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars although Sanfelice was largely apolitical.^[1] As she was generally regarded as the innocent victim of circumstances, she became a legendary figure who was widely portrayed in popular culture. During the nineteenth century she was often depicted as a gentle and naïve beauty whose story closely resembled that of the fictional Fioria Tosca, heroine of the Puccini opera Tosca.^[2]

Amongst those who depicted Sanfelice was the French writer Alexandre Dumas who wrote the novel La San Felice (1864). In 1874 the artist Giovacchino Toma painted , showing her in captivity before her execution. In the twentieth century Sanfelice appeared in two films Luisa Sanfelice (1942) and Luisa Sanfelice (2004).

Bibliography[]

• Lancaster, Jordan. In the Shadow of Vesuvius: A Cultural History of Naples. I.B.Tauris, 2005.
• Nicassio, Susan Vandiver. Tosca's Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective. University of Chicago Press, 2002.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luisa Sanfelice.

This Italian biographical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by .

• v
• t