At the end of the long Spanish decline, rule of the island of Sicily passed through a complex series of transitions. The War of Spanish Succession (1701–1714) ended with the Treaty of Utrecht, which awarded Sicily to the House of Savoy in 1713, ending the Spanish era. But Savoyard rule lasted only a few years. In 1720, under the terms of the Treaty of The Hague, Sicily now passed to the Austrian Habsburgs. Fifteen years later, in 1735, Austrian rule ended by treaty and the island was transferred to the Spanish Bourbons, where it would remain for the next 125 years.
This chapter covers this period of rapid transition, the short-lived Savoy experiment, the brief Austrian interlude, and the establishment of Bourbon rule in 1735 under King Charles III of Sicily.
