Maria of Calabria (6 May 1329 – 20 May 1366), Countess of Alba, was a Neapolitan princess of the Capetian House of Anjou whose descendants inherited the crown of Naples following the death of her older sister, Queen Joanna I. Maria was the fifth and posthumous child of Charles, Duke of Calabria (eldest son of King Robert the Wise of Naples) and Marie of Valois (half-sister of King Philip VI of France).

[3] In this way, King Robert wanted to reconcile his bloodline with the descendants of his older brother, deprived from the crown of Naples in his favor.

By the provisions of his will, her elder sister Joanna was to become ruler of Naples, while Maria was not only given the County of Alba and a vast inheritance[citation needed] but also was confirmed to be betrothed to Louis I of Hungary,[4] or in the case that this union never happened, the King of Naples instructed that she then could marry John, Duke of Normandy, heir of the French throne (although he was already married since 1332).

In 1348, the Black Death reached the Italian Peninsula, forcing the King of Hungary and the majority of his army to retreat back to their homeland in hope of escaping the spreading epidemic.

According to the Chronicle of Parthénope, the Neapolitan Princes, whom King Louis I of Hungary had imprisoned during his first campaign in Southern Italy, proposed him to marry Maria, his previous bride.

During the siege of Aversa in the summer of 1350, the Hungarian King met her envoy in the nearby Trentola-Ducenta and the terms of their marriage were accepted.

Due to her grandfather's will, Maria was the heiress to the Kingdom of Naples in the event that her elder sister Joanna I died childless.