1. Paolo Avitabile joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Punjab in 1827, and later received various civilian appointments.
22 Facts About Paolo Avitabile
1. 2.
Paolo Avitabile remained in the Punjab until the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh in 1843, after which he retired to Italy, where his rank as a general was confirmed and he was knighted.
3.
Paolo Avitabile was born into a large family of eight children, being the sixth born.
4.
At the age of 16, Paolo Avitabile enlisted into the service of the local provincial military.
5.
The young Paolo Avitabile served in the local levies of the Kingdom of Naples between 1807 and 1809, when he joined the artillery of the regular army.
6.
Paolo Avitabile retained his rank and command and joined the army of the new Kingdom of Two Sicilies, where he joined the siege of Gaeta under the command of the Austrian general Delaver.
7.
Paolo Avitabile served under the Austrian commander Baron Joseph Lauer at the siege.
8.
Paolo Avitabile was transferred instead to a position of lieutenant in a regiment of light infantry.
9.
In Constantinople he was approached by an agent of the Persian Shah Fath Ali Shah recruiting European officers; in 1820, Paolo Avitabile took service with the Persian Shah.
10.
Paolo Avitabile remained in this employment for six years, during which period he rose to the rank of khan and a grade of colonel in the Persian army.
11.
Paolo Avitabile had met with Allard and Ventura while in Persia.
12.
In 1826, Paolo Avitabile felt nostalgic about his homeland and therefore secured leave to return to Italy, where the sovereign of Naples presented him a gift of a box containing a Persian shawl made out of high-quality, fine cloth.
13.
Paolo Avitabile was rewarded for his services by two of Persia's highest decorations as Grand Commander of The Lion and Sun and of The Two Lions and Crown, accompanied by official diplomas, but found the pay lacking.
14.
Together with Court, Paolo Avitabile arrived in Lahore in 1827 and was hired by Maharaja Ranjit Singh.
15.
Paolo Avitabile was given a position with the artillery and put in charge of the arsenal and gun foundries.
16.
Paolo Avitabile was given a civilian position as governor of Wazirabad.
17.
Paolo Avitabile was a scholar and an engineer, who worked very closely with Lehna Singh Majithia, a great Sikh engineer of his time.
18.
Paolo Avitabile remained in the position of Governor during the First Anglo-Afghan War until he left in 1843.
19.
Paolo Avitabile returned to Naples, where he built a grand home in San Lazzaro.
20.
Paolo Avitabile obtained in 1844 that his place of birth, Agerola, was separated from Amalfi and united to the "Provincia di Napoli".
21.
Paolo Avitabile died in "strange" circumstances soon after marrying a local girl: Enrichetta Coccia.
22.
Paolo Avitabile is a minor character in Flashman, a 1969 novel by George MacDonald Fraser.