position to return home. Back home As one of the few European adventurers in the area, he succeeded in building a fortune and getting away with it. He returned to Naples, where he built a grand home in San Lazzaro (Agerola). He obtained in 1844 that his place of birth, Agerola, was separated from Amalfi and united to the "Provincia di Napoli". He died in "strange" circumstances soon after marrying a local girl: Enrichetta Coccia. The following legal battle over his inheritance, and the many distant relatives asserting their claims, made Avitabile's cousin something of a byword in Italy. In fiction Avitabile is a minor character in Flashman, a 1969 novel by George MacDonald Fraser. The narrator describes him as a "great, grey-bearded ox of a man... the Sikhs and Afghans were more scared of him than of the Devil himself." Despite Avitabile never facing Sikhs in battle himself or even having a reputation among common Sikhs or his fellow soldiers. Honours and awards Avitabile won honours in every country he served. The inscription on his tomb at Agerola lists: Chevalier of the Legion of Honour Order of Merit of San Ferdinand of Naples Order of the Durrani Empire Afghanistan Grand Cordon of the Lion and the Sun Two Lions and Crown of Persia Auspicious Star of the Punjab See also Jean-Baptiste Ventura Fauj-i-Khas References Sources Major Pearse, Hugh; Ranjit Singh and his white officers. In Nicola Forte: "Viaggio nella memoria persa del Regno delle Due Sicilie", ed. imagaenaria, p. 156, 2008, , . Antonio Lusardi, "Myth and reality of Paolo Avitabile, the last European Free Lancer in India", La Révolution française [En ligne], 8 | 2015, mis en ligne le 24 juin 2015, Consulté le 22 juillet 2017. URL: http://lrf.revues.org/1273 External links Avitabile Avitabile's term as governor in Peshawar, India 1838-1842 1791 births 1850 deaths People from the Province of Naples Italian mercenaries Italian generals Italian soldiers French soldiers People of the First Anglo-Afghan War History of Peshawar Mercenaries in India Italian expatriates in Iran People of Qajar Iran