Florestano Pepe (March 4, 1778 – April 3, 1851) was an Italian patriot. He was brother to the more famous general

Guglielmo Pepe Guglielmo Pepe (13 February 1783 – 8 August 1855) was an Italian general and patriot. He was brother to Florestano Pepe and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. He was married to Mary Ann Coventry, a Scottish woman who was the widow of John Bort ...

and cousin to Gabriele Pepe. Pepe was born in

Squillace Squillace (; ; ) is an ancient town and in the Province of Catanzaro, part of Calabria, Southern Italy. Squillace is situated near the east coast of Calabria, facing the shores of the eponymous Gulf of Squillace (), which indents the coast of ...

(

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

) and entered the

Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and land are ...

army at young age. In 1799 he was amongst the defenders of the Neapolitan Republic. Defeated by the Bourbon troops under Cardinal Ruffo, he was captured and exiled to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. He fought in numerous battles of the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

under

Joseph Bonaparte Joseph Bonaparte (born Giuseppe di Buonaparte, ; ; ; 7 January 176828 July 1844) was a French statesman, lawyer, diplomat and older brother of Napoleon Bonaparte. During the Napoleonic Wars, the latter made him King of Naples (1806–1808), an ...

and

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also ; ; ; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the ...

. He was chief of staff of the Neapolitan Division of Marshal Suchet's army in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

(1809), and took part in the Russian Campaign of 1812. He was also a protagonist of the Neapolitan Revolution of 1820; wounded, he retired to private life. Florestano Pepe died in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in 1851.

References

Brief biography
*Francesco Carrano, ''Vita del generale Florestano Pepe'', Genova, Stab. Ponthenier, 1851 *Cesare Morisani, ''Ricordi biografici del generale Florestano Pepe'', Reggio di Calabria, F. Morello, 1892 *Carlo Trionfi, ''Guglielmo e Florestano Pepe'', Milano, Oberdan Zucchi, 1942 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pepe, Florestano 1778 births 1851 deaths People from Squillace Italian soldiers French soldiers Italian people of the Italian unification Italian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars People of the Kingdom of Naples (Napoleonic)