False names, multiple nationalities: Spying in the nineteenth-century Mediterranean area

The article focuses on the spies and secret agents working for the police force of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies or for diplomatic representatives, in particular in the Mediterranean area, an area of primary importance for nineteenth-century political exile. It first analyses how false identities were created by examining reports filed by Bourbon secret agents, and how they lived their fictitious lives. It also examines how fakery and dissemblance was used by considering the activities of spies and informers across the whole Mediterranean area. It then focuses on the entrenched view held by the authorities and the general public that adopting fictitious identities was a difficult task, as was identifying the fine line between truth and falsehood in the world of spying.