It consisted of the Italian commune of Pontecorvo, an exclave of the Papal States from 1463 within the territory of the Kingdom of Naples.

The principality was created by Napoleon for his Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte.

In 1815, after the Napoleonic Wars, the town was ceded back to the Papal States.

In 1860, it joined Benevento, the other southern Italian papal exclave, in being united with the new Kingdom of Italy.

[1] He was subsequently elected Crown Prince of Sweden and then agreed to give up Pontecorvo, but under conditions that never were resolved.