The Sicilian Constitution of 1848 which survived the 16 months was advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified Italian confederation of states.

Both geographic areas had previously formed the single Kingdom of Sicily created by the Normans in the 11th century, but split in two following the War of the Sicilian Vespers in 1302.

This was during the tumultuous period during which in 1798 the Bourbon royal court was forced by Napoleonic troops to flee from Naples and to re-establish itself in Palermo in Sicily, with the assistance of the English navy under Admiral Nelson.

The popular nature of the revolt is evident in the fact that posters and notices were being handed out a full three days before the substantive acts of the revolution occurred on 12 January 1848.

On capitulating to the Bourbons, Settimo escaped to Malta where he was received with the full honours of a head of state, and remained exiled there for twelve years.

Upon the formation of the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861, Settimo was offered the position of first President of the Senate of the newly created national parliament, and remained in that office until his death in 1863.

[15] During the days of September 1848 there were numerous cases of civilians who were intentionally killed by Bourbon troops, who in some cases raped women who took refuge in churches before murdering them, killed all the children and murdered sick people in their beds, as happened for example for the elderly farmer Francesco Bombace, octuagenarian, and for the daughter of Letterio Russo, who was beheaded and to whom the breasts were amputated.

A Bourbon official wrote to his brother, immediately after the capture of Messina, stating that the Neapolitan departments had recaptured the city with a very intense fire and "trampling corpses in every step that progressed for the space of about two miles" and then commenting "What a horror!

[20] During the siege of Messina, the last insurgents who resisted the attack of the Bourbons inside a convent, rather than hand themselves over, chose to throw themselves into a well, taking their tricolour flags with them.

[21] Messina was also troubled by the work of common criminals sent by King Ferdinand II to Sicily against the insurgents and that after tormenting the Sicilians for months with brigand actions (crimes, violence, thefts, etc.)