At the time , much of Calabria was a wild place . The 1783 Calabrian earthquakes killed 100,000 people . Parts of Reggio still lay in ruins as late as 1813 and many churches had not been rebuilt in 1806 . The hardy Calabrians had a strong independent streak and practiced the vendetta against neighboring families and villages . Plundering French troops and greedy French civil authorities quickly ignited a revolt by the proud Calabrian peasants . However , the people of the major towns hated the Neapolitan royal administration and generally favored the French . The rebellion flared up after individual events . At Scigliano the French left a detail of 50 soldiers . A woman was raped , the villagers rose up , and most of the Frenchmen were slaughtered . The French commanders had only one answer to such incidents , to attack , plunder , and burn down the offending village . This led to a vicious cycle of atrocity and counter-atrocity . For his part , Joseph Bonaparte tried to be fair , even ordering French soldiers to be shot for criminal offenses and French officials to be tried for malfeasance . Meanwhile , he conferred the title " Prince of Naples " to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren
1783 Calabrian earthquakes
1783 Calabrian earthquakes
Invasion of Naples (1806)