Naples was overrun by the French and the Parthenopaean
Republic established (1799), Cardinal Ruffo, acting on behalf of the
Bourbon king Ferdinand IV., who had fled to Sicily, undertook the
reconquest of the country, and for this purpose he raised bands of
peasants, gaol-birds, brigands, &c., under the name of Sanfedisti or
_bande della Santa Fede_ ("bands of the Holy Faith"). Fra Diavolo was
made leader of one of them, and waged untiring war against the French
troops, cutting off isolated detachments and murdering stragglers and
couriers. Owing to his unrivalled knowledge of the country, he succeeded
in interrupting the enemy's communications between Rome and Naples. But
although, like his fellow-brigands under Ruffo, he styled himself "the
faithful servant and subject of His Sicilian Majesty," wore a military
uniform and held military rank, and was even created duke of Cassano,
his atrocities were worthy of a bandit chief. On one occasion he threw
some of his prisoners, men, women and children, over a precipice, and
on another he had a party of seventy shot. His excesses while at Albano
were such that the Neapolitan general Naselli had him arrested and
imprisoned in the castle of St Angelo, but he was liberated soon after.
When Joseph Bonaparte was made king of Naples, extraordinary tribunals
were established to suppress brigandage, and a price was put on Fra
Diavolo's head. After spreading terror through Calabria, he crossed over
to Sicily, where he concerted further attacks on the French. He returned
to the mainland at the head of 200 convicts, and committed further
excesses in the Terra di Lavoro; but the French troops were everywhere
on the alert to capture him and he had to take refuge in the woods of
Lenola. For two months he evaded his pursuers, but at length, hungry and
ill, he went in disguise to the village of Baronissi, where he was
recognized and arrested, tried by an extraordinary tribunal, condemned
to death and shot. In his last moments he cursed both the Bourbons and
Admiral Sir Sidney Smith for having induced him to engage in this
reckless adventure (1806). Although his cruelty was abominable, he was
not altogether without generosity, and by his courage and audacity he
acquired a certain romantic popularity. His name has gained a world-wide
celebrity as the title of a famous opera by Auber.

The best known account of Fra Diavolo is in Pietro Colletta's _Storia
del reame di Napoli_ (2nd ed., Florenc