Carlo Troya (also spelled Troja; 7 June 1784 – 28 July 1858) was a historian and politician who served as Prime Minister of the Two Sicilies from 3 April 1848 until 15 May 1848. Politically, he was a liberal Neo-Guelph who supported Italian unification. His primary historical interest was the study of the Early Middle Ages, to which he made lasting contributions.
Master of Law, he was involved in 1820–1821 Neapolitan insurrections: holding the position of BasilicataIntendant, he worked for the liberal review “Minerva napolitana”, reason why he was sent into exile from 1824 to 1826. Back in Naples, without completely abandoning his political activity, he devoted his time to historical research in particular on the Middle Ages and Dante biography (Del Veltro allegorico di Dante).[1][note 1]
As historian he was the first who wrote about Jordanes confusion between Goths and Getae (a Getic people from Carpathian area).[2]
In 1844, he was one of the founders and president until 1847 of the Neapolitan Historic Society. He was also one of the contributors of the newspaper Il Tempo founded with Saverio Baldacchini (it).
Representative of the Neo-Guelph movement, he was appointed prime minister on 3 April 1848 by Ferdinand II according to the Constitution granted on 11 February 1848.
On 15 May 1848, with a coup d'état, Ferdinand II dissolved the democratic Parliament, dismissed Carlo Troja and replaced his Ministry with one composed exclusively of conservative elements and led by Gennaro Spinelli di Cariati.
His brother Ferdinando Troya was Ferdinand II Prime Minister from 1852 to 1859.