With the forces of Garibaldi nearing Naples and royal army units refusing to march to resist them, King Ferdinand made one last effort to form a new government. When this failed, he and his family abandoned his capital and took a steamer to the fortress at Gaeta. The Bourbon dynasty would hold out only until early 1861, when Ferdinand and his family went into exile and Italy was united under the Piedmontese throne. He died in Austria in 1894. (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
Chronicle, The Annual Register or a View of the History and Politics of the Year 1860 (London: F. & J. Rivington, 1861), 228.