His sisters included the future Holy Roman Empress, Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

His cousins included a Duke of Parma, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Holy Roman Emperor, Queen of Portugal, King of Spain, a Duchess of Calabria, the first wife of his older brother Ferdinand.

[2] He was the second in line to the throne, second only to his oldest surviving brother Prince Francis, then Duke of Calabria.

At the age of three, he survived a smallpox epidemic which killed his older sister Maria Cristina Amelia[1] and younger brother Giuseppe,[1] the two dying within a week of each other in February 1783.

In December 1788, Gennaro caught smallpox and died on 2 January 1789 at the Caserta Palace.