Maria Sofia, sister of Sissi, the queen of Naples

Like Sissi, she marries with the crown on her head

But as has already happened for Sissi, who at the age of 16 marries the Emperor Franz Joseph and finds herself living in a distant court, struggling with a difficult mother-in-law and a husband who is not very present, also Maria Sofia is engaged to the future king of a distant country: it is Francesco II of the Two Sicilies, ingloriously nicknamed Franceschiello, the last Bourbon ruler before the Garibaldi expedition and the unification of Italy. When she becomes his wife, Maria Sofia is 18 and he is five years older. His father Ferdinand II, who had great sympathy for his Bavarian daughter-in-law, dies prematurely and the two newlyweds find a crown on their heads. But a wobbling crown: it is 1859, practically the eve of the landing of the Thousand …

The looming shadow of the stern stepmother

Maria Sofia is at the side of a husband full of problems: he has always lost his mother, Maria Cristina of Savoy having died in giving birth to him, Francesco d’Assisi Maria Leopoldo was raised more as a devotee destined for religious life than as a sovereign. “Repressed, controlled by his father, succubus of the severe stepmother, he was devoted above all to spiritual readings and religious practices. Few friends, no sports. He was inexperienced in the use of weapons. As for female relationships, they were taboo: both for the strict education imparted to him by his severe stepmother, and for physical problems, perhaps a phimosis »writes Professor Musi.

The “severe stepmother” was then Maria Theresa of Habsburg-Teschen, the second wife of King Ferdinand, destined to make the life of the two young sovereigns even more problematic with her constant interference. Despite the uncomfortable situation, the young Maria Sofia does her best to win back with all her charm and charisma the consent of the subjects, who do not like the weak personality of the new kingand in his spare time he relaxes by teaching German words to his beloved parrots (he gets to own a dozen).

His other passion is photography: a narcissist like almost all beautiful people, he loves using that recent technique to show himself at his best.. “In the long series of portraits as a queen she appeared almost like a mannequin, with fashionable clothes or as a horsewoman, with a hat, cloak and boots (…) well aware of the disruptive power of the new medium, thanks to the very modern, conscious and very often unscrupulous that she made of it, which allowed her to become a real media myth, like her sister Sissi ». Perhaps there is also some competition between the two prettiest of the family. And in any case, enough pompous oil portraits: the royal family showed themselves as they were, in an attempt to recover lost popular consent at the last minute.

The Joan of Arc of the Bourbons

Despite the last-minute political concessions, decided by Franceschiello above all due to pressure from Maria Sofia, the situation worsened. When the two find themselves besieged in Gaeta, the beautiful sovereign is transformed into a nineteenth-century Joan of Arc. “During the long months of the siege, the queen was the soul of the resistance. Leaving her sumptuous crinolines, she turned into a soldier, an Amazon. Her image went around the world. The photographers disseminated the portrait of a woman who was reviewing the troop, covered by a large Calabrian cloak, with a Hungarian hat with feathers, a blouse with a leather belt, puffy Turkish trousers, high boots »says Professor Musi.

Iconography almost like a picture: “With the index finger of his right hand he incites the Bourbon soldiers“. And it is not just appearance, the situation is very hard. “During the five months of the siege there were 1500 cases of typhus, septicemia and dysentery that hit the soldiers en masse: Maria Sofia stood out for her self-denial and loving assistance to the sick and wounded“.

Victim of a risque photomontage

Unfortunately, building his myth is not enough: in February 1861 the last resistance was won and the royals took refuge in Rome. And there the queen’s penchant for photography will backfire, when a ferocious smear campaign will be developed through a photomontage, one of the first in history, which portrays her naked in lascivious poses and moreover in front of a portrait of the pope. His detractors had stuck his unmistakable handsome face around the neck of an unveiled prostitute. Certainly even the liberals did not spare the low blows … And anyway there is a little bit of truth. The mirrored heroine of Gaeta, who has always been rejected by her husband between the sheets, takes her liberties. She has lovers, one for sure: an officer of the papal army, Armand de Lawayss, a noble of Belgian origin. “The result of the relationship was a pregnancy. Realizing she was pregnant, Maria Sofia decided to leave Rome and leave for Bavaria. You put forward health reasons, ”says Professor Musi.

Maria Sofia gives birth to a baby girl, or perhaps twins, before returning disciplinedly to her husband’s side in exile. Franceschiello not only forgives her, but finally decides to resolve her physical impediment and manages to get her pregnant with a child whom they will call Maria Cristina (like her paternal grandmother) and also Pia (like Pius IX), but she will only live three months. Another great pain for the queen without a kingdom anymore.

In search of the lost kingdom

She, Maria Sofia, on the other hand, will outlive everyone. To the mother-in-law Maria Teresa, who died of cholera in 1868. To Franceschiello, killed by diabetes at the age of 58 in 1894. To his sister Carlotta, burned alive in a fire in 1897. To the other sister Sissi, tragically stabbed by an anarchist in 1898. After moving to Paris, Maria Sofia continues to keep alive a small Bourbon court in exile and to work hard to try to regain the lost kingdom, to the point that she is even accused of having relations with the enemies of the Savoy, like that Bresci who killed Umberto I. During the First World War he sympathized with Germany and Austria. “L’Aquiletta Bavara”, as an admired Gabriele D’Annunzio had nicknamed her, died of pneumonia in Munich on 19 January 1925.

In a last interview released shortly before dying to a young Giovanni Ansaldo for The print from Turin she will say flirtatiously: «I am eighty-three years old. One more than the honorable Giolitti. I am very old ». And then, in a gasp of pride, he will show him two watercolors depicting Vesuvius. «My king painted them. No, my king was not an imbecile … as they say ». And finally, with her mischievous smile when she was a girl: «You can see it. I am poor. And I live here by permission of a nephew of mine. The Savoys were not chic with us Bourbons… ».

Sofia, the missing role by Greta Garbo

Books, radio, the dreamed film. Maria Sofia has inspired writers and directors

He does not respect court etiquette, like his sister Sissi, empress of Austra. Maria Sofia. The last queen of the South (Neri Pozza) by Aurelio Musi tells of the short reign and exile of an exuberant and nonconformist sovereign. In her long life, Maria Sofia has inspired writers and artists such as Alphonse Daudet (Les rois en exil), Gabriele D’Annunzio (The virgins of the rockse), Marcel Proust (La prisonnièrein À la recherche du temps perdu). Cornelius Rudolph Vietor dedicates them Die letzte Königen von Neapel (The last queen of Naples). Leonardo Sciascia gives you a beautiful impossible Interview for Radio Rai. Luchino Visconti caresses the idea of ​​making a film about her life, giving her the face of Greta Garbo. The actress, who has been away from the set for thirty years, makes it known that she would like her. She will not happen: Visconti turns instead Ludwig in 1973, with Romy Schneider in the role of Sissi.

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