Antoine Christophe Saliceti

Antoine Christophe Saliceti (baptised in the name of Antonio Cristoforo Saliceti: Antoniu Cristufaru Saliceti in Corsican; 26 August 175723 December 1809) was a French politician and diplomat of the Revolution and First Empire.

Early career He was born a member of a Piacentine family in Saliceto, Haute-Corse. He was born during the era of the Corsican Republic, but after the Conquest of Corsica the island became French. After studying law in Tuscany, he became a lawyer at the upper council of Bastia, and was elected deputy of the Third Estate to the French Estates-General of 1789.

As deputy to the National Convention, Saliceti became a Montagnard and on 15 January 1793 voted for the death of King Louis XVI, and was sent to Corsica on mission to oversee Pasquale Paoli and enforce the Reign of Terror; however, he was compelled to withdraw to Provence, where he took part in repressing the revolts at Marseille and Toulon. During this time he met and promoted his compatriot Napoleon Bonaparte.

Although an adversary of Napoleon's 18 Brumaire Coup which created the Consulate (9 November 1799), he was kept by Napoleon as his representative to the Republic of Lucca (1801–1802) and Liguria (1805), engineering the territory's annexation to the Empire. In 1806, he followed Joseph Bonaparte to the Kingdom of Naples, where Joseph had been imposed as King, and served as minister of police and of war. Saliceti died in Naples in mysterious circumstances, possibly poisoned.