Ettore Carafa

Ettore Carafa d'Andria, the Count of Ruvo (August 10, 1767 in Andria – September 4, 1799 in Naples) was an Italian soldier and republican patriot, executed after the fall of the Parthenopean Republic. His courage, idealism, and resolute optimism created in Ettore an image of the Italian martyr for following generations involved in the struggle for more democratic structures and an Italian nation.

His father, Riccardo Carafa, was the Duke of Andria; his mother, Margherita Pignatelli, was the sister of the Vicar General, Francesco Pignatelli. Ettore had three brothers: Francesco, Fabrizio, and Carlo. He had three sisters: Maria Giuseppa married to the Duke of Sangro, lieutenant general to the King; Maria Luisa married to Baldassarre Caracciolo, Duke of Casteldisangro; and another married to the Duke of Altemps. The house of Carafa had long been a prestigious noble family, which included an ancestor as Pope Paul IV. The Duke and Duchess had offices in the Court and were very loyal and faithful to the Bourbons; the Duchess and the daughters were considered pious, religious, and of strict morals.

Ettore and his brothers, unlike his parents, were attracted by the revolutionary fervor emanating from France. In 1787-1788, Ettore had secretly traveled to Paris with his tutor Franco Laghezza of Trani, where he became enamored with Jacobin ideas.

After returning to Naples, there was an incident wherein Ettore had appeared wearing a color emblematic of the revolution, in the form of a scarlet waistcoat, at the Fiorentini theater; this prompted a complaint by the Queen made to his mother, the Duchess of Andria. He was already under suspicion for being a leader of a movement that translated into Italian the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, and distributed the copies throughout Naples.

In June 23, 1794, Ettore's father, the Duke, died. As the eldest son, he would to inherit his father's appointment to the Order of San Gennaro. However, due to his anti-monarchical idealism, he refused to receive the honors of his father from the royal court. After an angry debate with his mother, he entered to the church of San Severino e Sossio, where he proceeded to blacken the escutcheon on the tomb of his venerable ancestor Carafa, who had been grand prior of the order of Malta.

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