Joachim Murat was a king particularly appreciated by the Neapolitans, who succeeded Giuseppe Bonaparte, sovereign of the Kingdom of Naples personally appointed by Napoleon.
The subjects adored the charisma of Gioacchino Murat, husband of Napoleon Bonaparte's sister, Carolina, and in the same way the king had an unconditional love for the Cilento territory and its inhabitants. Under his leadership, the kingdom took on a more national identity, abandoning the French model largely focused on Feudality.
The famous phrase "Here we don't die", pronounced by the king himself to praise the healthiness of the territory, inscribed on a plaque affixed to the wall of Piazza Nicola Perrotti, the fulcrum of castellabate, a medieval village overlooking the Cilento coast.
Fatal for the fate of Gioacchino Murat was the rescue of the Maltese corsair Barabas, by the French garrison, who settled in the Castle of Agropoli.
The cannons of the fortress fired in the direction of a British warship that was pursuing a vessel intended for the transport of weapons and ammunition, headed towards Calabria. The English, who were caught unprepared because they were unaware of the existence of the contingent, retreated, thus allowing the pirate to escape to safety.
In 1815, the now ex-King of Naples, Gioacchino Murat, landed in Pizzo Calabro, even if originally his objective was to regain the throne by leaving from Corsica towards Cilento, but due to a storm the fleet composed of more than two hundred men and six sailing boats forcibly changed course. Only two boats were saved, including the one in which Joachim Murat was travelling.
However, this was not enough to save his life, since the commander once landed in Pizzo di Calabria was promptly captured by the men of the Bourbon captain Trentacapilli.
According to what various narratives report, Gioacchino Murat and his men tried to escape towards the sea, in the hope of reaching the Tartana, a vessel commanded by the corsair Barabas, which in the meantime had already disappeared. This facilitated the capture of the ex-King of Naples, who was taken prisoner.
After writing a final farewell letter to his wife and children, Murat ordered the firing squad to shoot him, but asked that his face be spared.
Gioacchino Murat was one of the few Kings of Naples to feel a strong feeling towards the territory, particularly attaching himself to the province of Salerno, nourishing an unconditional love for his kingdom and his subjects, who were particularly devoted to him, although his position as sovereign was short-lived.
Who knows how it would have gone if that day the garrison had not saved the life of the Maltese pirate Barabas, reserving a mocking fate for Joachim Murat.
