Filangieri. I. Gaetano, an Italian publicist, born in Naples, Aug. 18, 1752, died July 21, 1788. From 1777 he held various offices at court, and in 1787 he was called to the supreme council of finance. His principal work is the Scienza della legislazione, the first four books of which were published between 1780 and 1784, and the fifth was left unfinished at his death, caused prematurely by his excessive labors. The Scienza has been translated into German, French, English, and Spanish.

II. Carlo, duke of Taormina, son of the preceding, born in Naples in 1783, died in 1867. He was indebted for his military education at Paris to the kindness of Napoleon I., fought in the ranks of the French at the battle of Austerlitz, served in the Neapolitan army under Murat, and bravely exposed himself to the fire of the Austrian riflemen in 1815 by making a reconnoissance at the bridge of the Tanaro with only 80 men, on which occasion he was severely wounded. King Ferdinand II. placed him at the head of the artillery and of the engineers, employed him in 1848 in bombarding Messina and in quelling the rebellion in other parts of Sicily, and invested him as governor general of that island with unlimited power. During the short reign of Francis II. (1859-'60) ho was premier and minister of foreign affairs.