Napoleon Bonaparte was actually Nabulione, or perhaps Nicola, Buonaparte and his family was not Corsican in origin, but Tuscan, according to the town of
To back up their claim, San Miniato cites the fact, reported in the newspaper Gazzetta Toscana of the 2nd June 1796, that the 27-year old general came to the town to confirm his links with the local noble Buonaparte family. He was welcomed by his uncle, canon Filippo Buonaparte, a Florentine patrician of the San Miniato nobility, according to the paper. Researchers believe that this same uncle had helped him some years previously to enter the prestigious Brienne military college, which only accepted blue-blooded cadets.
On the eve of his Italian campaign, Napoleon dropped the u from his name, in order to make it sound more French. Evidently at that point in his career, his Tuscan connections had become more of an embarrassment than an asset!
