Francesco Eboli, duca di Castropignano

Francesco Eboli (or Evoli) (Castropignano, 24 February 1693 – Naples, 20 January 1758) was an Italian nobleman, soldier, diplomat and politician, and II Duke of Castropignano. He was lieutenant of the cavalry of the Kingdom of Naples in the battle of Bitonto on 24 May 1734, commander of the Neapolitan militias that occupied Pescara, wresting it from the Austrians in July 1734, and commander of the Neapolitan army in the Battle of Velletri on 10 August 1744.

Biography He was the eldest son of Domenico d'Evoli (1648–1723), First Duke of Castropignano, and Concetta Caracciolo. During the War of the Spanish Succession he sided with the Bourbons, placing himself at the service of Philip V, the new King of Spain. When the Kingdom of Naples was lost to the Habsburgs in 1707, he also lost the hereditary rights to his father's fiefdom, obtaining its restitution only following the Treaty of Vienna in 1725, which, by establishing peace between Philip V and the Emperor Charles VI, reinstated the nobles of the Bourbon party in their possessions. The conquest was celebrated by the poet of the court of Parma, Carlo Innocenzo Frugoni, who composed a sonnet dedicated to the Duke for the occasion.

After distinguishing himself in the Battle of Bitonto, he occupied the fortress of Pescara, where the Austrian troops retreating from Bari had barricaded themselves. For these services, he was awarded the title of Grandee of Spain in 1737.

After having tried in vain to become Viceroy of Sicily, in 1739, he was appointed Neapolitan Ambassador to Paris. In 1741, at the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession, he was recalled to his homeland to take command, alongside the Duke of Montemar, of operations in Lombardy against the Austro-Sardinian army. In August 1742, however, he was forced to retreat after Great Britain, an ally of Austria, had threatened Naples with a naval bombardment.