The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Regno delle Due Sicilie) was the largest of the Italian states before Italian unification. It was formed of a union of the Spanish Bourbon Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples, which collectively had long been called the "Two Sicilies" (Utriusque Siciliae), in 1816 and lasted until 1860, when it was annexed by the Kingdom of Sardinia, which became the Kingdom of Italy in 1861. The Two Sicilies had its capital in Naples and was commonly referred to in English as the "Kingdom of Naples". The kingdom extended over the Mezzogiorno (the southern part of mainland Italy) and the island of Sicily. Lancaster notes that the integration of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies into the Kingdom of Italy changed the status of Naples forever: "Abject poverty meant that, throughout Naples and Southern Italy, thousands decided to leave in search of a better future." Many went to the United States. It was heavily agricultural, like the other Italian states; the church owned 50–65% of the land by 1750.
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