Giovanni di, an eminent Sicilian patriot, was born at Salerno about 1225, and became proprietor of the island of Procida. His first appearance on the stage of history was made in 1266, when Charles of Anjou slew Manfredi, King of Sicily, at the battle of Benevento, and seized upon the vacant throne. All his time and fortune were forthwith staked upon an enterprise for restoring the expelled house of Hohenstaufen. To draw the sword in behalf of the stripling Conrad was his first attempt. When that prince was defeated and executed, all his efforts were next directed to the formation of a widely-organized conspiracy against the triumphant usurper. He hastened to Spain to persuade Peter of Aragon to claim the Sicilian crown in right of his wife, the daughter of Manfredi. He returned to Sicily in disguise, to encourage the rebellious spirit among his countrymen, with the promise of assistance from the King of Aragon. He then repaired to the Emperor Michael Palaeologus at Constantinople, and brought back money to buy weapons for the disarmed natives. At length he drew the chief of his accomplices to Palermo, and waited until some accident should light the train which he had so artfully laid. That accident soon occurred. It happened on the Easter Monday of 1282 that a mixed procession of citizens and French invaders set out from Palermo to hear vespers at a neighbouring village church. On the way a Frenchman began to be rude to a Sicilian maiden, and was immediately stabbed to the heart by the betrothed of the insulted girl. This desperate deed acted like a firebrand upon the excited tempers of the natives. Their long pent-up revenge burst into a wild explosion; the cry of "Death to the French" rose in the air; each man turned with drawn dagger upon the foreigner that was next him; and before the vesper-bell had ceased to sound, every Frenchman in the company was slain. Nor was their thirst for vengeance slaked with so much blood. They rushed home to exterminate those foreigners who had remained in the city. Neither age nor sex was spared. The carnage raged indiscriminately until 4000 lay weltering in their blood, and the fury of the assassins was suddenly checked for want of victims. This massacre, known by the name of "the Sicilian vespers," decided the fate of Sicily. The revolt spread through the rest of the country; Peter of Aragon landed and received the crown; Charles of Anjou was repulsed in his attempt to regain the island; and Giovanni di Procida, before his death at the beginning of the fourteenth century, had the satisfaction of seeing that through his patriotic exertions the lawful sovereigns of Sicily were seated in undisputed possession of the throne.

(anc. Prochyta), an island in the Mediterranean, belonging to the kingdom of Naples, lies between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia, at the northern extremity of the Bay of Naples. Its form is irregular; and it is 2½ miles from N.E. to S.W., and as much from N.W. to S.E. A strait, 3½ miles broad, separates it from the mainland. The northern extremity of the island terminates in steep and picturesque cliffs; on one of which, Cape Rocciole, the N.E. point, stands a ruined castle commanding a fine view. On the slopes of this hill, towards the south, the town of Procida, with its flat-roofed houses, gardens, vineyards, and orange groves, has a beautiful appearance. Its population is 3400. The island is chiefly occupied with gardens and vineyards; and the people are employed in these and in seafaring pursuits, which are actively carried on,—no fewer than 300 vessels being owned in the island. The chief article of commerce is fruit. The inhabitants are of Greek origin, retaining the costume, and, on festive occasions, performing the characteristic dances of that nation. Procida now belongs to the crown, though it was at one time the property of a family, of which John of Procida, the author of the Sicilian Vespers, was the most famous member. Pop. 14,580.