The 15 marzo 1981 the marquis Antonio Forcella died in Buccino (in the picture), last exponent of a family present in Buccino as early as the fifteenth century (on which I refer to my larger article that you can read who). Designated heirs of the family were the brothers Aslan and Giorgio Sanfelice di Bagnoli, Adopted by the last Marquises whose mother's great-grandchildren.
After the death of the Marquis, to avoid theft or scattering, the heirs came to collect all the fine furnishings in Buccino in the Palazzo Forcella and in the villa in the Falcesca district, that in April 1982 were auctioned at the famous Christie's auction house in Rome. The precious furnishings are documented in the auction catalog (Furnishings that belonged to the Marquis of Pietralunga and Conte della Valle), which also shows some photos of the most important items auctioned.
Along with the furnishings, the heirs also took away what remained of the precious family archive, largely missing due to the November earthquake 1980, leaving in the palace only a nucleus of few papers and some registers, deemed of less importance, mainly linked to the management of land properties in the Buccino area. Thanks to the precious report of Marcello Nardiello, president of the Pro Loco of Buccino, a few years ago I was able to recover and save the documentation abandoned in the cellars of the Buccinese palace, remained for almost thirty years in bad weather (in the photo some materials at the time of the discovery).
Thanks to my report, the documentation recovered in June 2014 has been declared of particular historical interest with a specific decree of the Regional Directorate for Cultural and Landscape Heritage of Campania (n. 2047/2014) and it is now kept in the Municipality of Buccino.
As part of my extensive research on the history of the Forcella family, in 2018 I had made contact with the architect Aslan Sanfelice of Bagnoli Forcella to have news about the fate of the documents from the family archive and the architect he kindly replied that he had ordered the donation of the documentation Fork at the State Archives of Naples.
In the same 2018, indeed, the small collection of documents of the Forcella family was acquired by the Neapolitan archive and is now available to scholars. It is a small core of documents, mostly dating back to the eighteenth century (there are only two documents from the sixteenth century and one from the seventeenth century), as can be deduced from the summary inventory of the documentation, drawn up on 4 April 2019 by dr. Paolo Franzese (and available who).
In waiting to be able to conduct a direct study of the donated documents in the near future, on the basis of the information contained in the inventory we report the documents most important for reconstructing the family 's events and for the history of Whelk.
The documents explicitly linked to Buccino are only 3: a parchment from 1583 concerning a contract between Duke Caracciolo di Martina, count of Buccino, and the Buccinese Camillo Sardo (busta 3, n. 30), the declaration of the notary Giuseppe Tanga stating that some members of the Forcella family were documented in Buccino in a notarial deed of the 1577 (busta 3, n. 27), and a letter from the 30 July 1792 directed to the mayor and the elect of Buccino (busta 3, n. 30).
Regarding the history of the family in general, the envelopes dedicated to the various correspondence of the years are to be investigated 1802-1896 (busta 2, n. 24), a nomine, titles and honors received (busta 2, n. 25, years 1827-1884), as well as the interesting «Authentic relics preserved by the Marquis of Pietralunga d. Antonio Forcella in his private oratory " (busta 3, n. 26, sec. XIX), to some notes and copies of civil status documents (busta 3, n. 29) to reminders regarding hereditary issues (busta 3, n. 28) and correspondence to obtain admission to the Order of Malta (busta 3, n. 22, year 1881). The correspondence of the Marquis Antonio with his brother Giuseppe is also interesting for family affairs (busta 1, n. 9), long diplomat at the papal court, of which the archive holds some documents relating to the purchase in 1796 of a series of land in Puglia in Accadia and more (busta 1, n. 10). Although already known, the copy of the 1880 of the sentence with which the Royal Chamber of Summary approved the registration for the benefit of the Buccinese Carlo Forcella of the fourth part of the fief of Castel Forcella, in Abruzzo (busta 3, n. 23).
A more documentation refers instead to specific exponents of the family, especially to Antonio Forcella, the first marquis, and his sons Carlo Enrico and Horace, who were long Bourbon officials.
To Antonio owes the turning point in the history of the family, that thanks to him and to his heirs rose from the rank of the provincial nobility to join the important officials of the Bourbon court, and it is therefore certainly of interest to his biography with real titles and awards, his correspondence and the his testament, drawn up on 13 novembre 1828 (busta 1, n. 1). Equally the correspondence between Antonio and the king is certainly interesting Francis I of Bourbon (years 1814-1818, busta 2, n. 19), the certifying booklet its membership in March 1811 to the Army of Sicilian Volunteers (busta 1, n. 2) and the decree by which February 8th 1848 the Marquis Forcella came replaced in the position of steward of the province of Palermo by the marquis of Spaccaforno.
TO this documentation is added to that concerning the activity of the Marquis Antonio in Sicily, where he moved to the king's retinue as a result of the Neapolitan revolution of the 1799, and where he was in charge of administration for many years of the ducea of Bronte, owned by the famous English admiral Horatio Nelson. Just to the administration of the ducea, in addition to the correspondence on a long litigation with the owners regarding the administration (busta 1, n. 1), Yes bind 3 iconographic representations of the territory and its borders (busta 1, n. 5), other documentation related to the Duchy (busta 1, nn. 6, 8) and the copy of the will of the English admiral (busta 1, n. 7).
Carlo Enrico (1790-1855), eldest son of the marquis Antonio and owner of a splendid palace still existing in Palermo, where he died without heirs (in the photo his funeral monument in the Capuchin church), he succeeded his father in the management of the Ducea di Bronte and had a series of assignments at the Bourbon court. Her correspondence with the Queen of France Maria Amalia of Bourbon is linked to her figure, daughter of King Ferdinand I (busta 1, n. 17, years 1831-1854), the letters sent to him by Prince Leopold of Bourbon (busta 1, n. 18, years 1849-1850) and correspondence with the future king Francis I of Bourbon (busta 2, n. 19, years 1818-1820, 1824-1830).
On the figure of Orazio Forcella (1789-1864), Antonio's second son who took his name from Admiral Nelson and who was the royal treasurer and administrator of the real sites of Persano, Caserta and S. Leucio, precious are the documents related to his genealogy and his titles, including a copy of his matrimonial chapters of 4 January 1824 for the wedding with Giustiniana Caracciolo of the Arena counts (busta 1 n. 12). The decree of appointment as administrator of the royal sites of Caserta and S. are linked to his activity for the Bourbon court. Leucio, with the exclusion of the real silk factories (busta 3, n. 25, year 1832), the delivery reports of the administration of the royal sites of Caserta and S.. Leucio, (busta 1, n. 13, 10 February 1843) and the Majority of the Count of Caserta (busta 1, n. 14), some letters sent to him by Francis I of Bourbon between the 1827-1830 (busta 2, n. 19) and by King Francis II in 1861 (busta 2, n. 20) and other correspondence he received in Rome between August 1861 and September 1863 (busta 1, n. 16).
To his son Antonio (1830-1904), finally, few documents are related, concerning his transfer of residence from Naples to Portici in 1861 (busta 3, n. 21) and the application presented in 1881 to be admitted to the Order of Malta (busta 3, n. 22).
