Although just within the territory of the
Kingdom of Naples,
Ponte Corvo was an enclave of the
Papal States from 1463, when the
comune placed itself under papal jurisdiction, until it was captured by the
French army in the
Napoleonic Wars. After having been proclaimed
King of Italy in 1805,
Napoleon created Ponte Corvo a
principality for his General
Jean Baptiste Bernadotte. The principality was nominally sovereign, but the Prince did have to take an oath to the King. It was short-lived, however, and in 1815 the town was ceded back to the Papal States. In 1820 the 'Republic' of Pontecorvo seceded from the Papal States, but Papal rule was restored in March 1821. In 1860 it joined
Benevento, the other southern Italian papal enclave, in being united with the new Kingdom of
Italy.