| Battle of Nicotera | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the Sicilian Vespers | |||||
| |||||
| Belligerents | |||||
 Crown of Aragon Kingdom of Sicily |
 Kingdom of Naples | ||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||
|
Crown of Aragon: James of Aragon Pedro de Queralt Ramon de Cortada |
Angevin Naples:  Arrighino de’ Mari | ||||
| Strength | |||||
| 15–22 galleys | 48 ships | ||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||
| Light |
Heavy; around 20 Angevin ships captured Many crews and embarked troops captured (contemporary chronicles list between 4,000 and 6,000 prisoners—though numbers this high are likely an exaggeration) | ||||
The Battle of Nicotera was a 13th-century naval engagement, fought between an Aragonese–Sicilian fleet and the Angevin Kingdom of Naples during the War of the Sicilian Vespers. Fought along the coastline of Southern Italy, most notably off of the town of Nicotera, the battle resulted in an Aragonese-Sicilian victory.
The battle was took place the aftermath of a failed attempt by an Angevin army to besiege the Sicilian city of Messina. The failure of the siege of Messina attritted the strength of the Angevin fleet operating off of Sicily, and the collapse of the siege forced the Angevins to put the fleet into port for repairs. When the Angevin fleet attempted to disperse to its home ports for the winter, it was intercepted and defeated by the Aragonese–Sicilian fleet.
Nicotera was the first direct battle between Angevin and Aragonese forces during the Vesperan conflict. While both fleets suffered from low preparedness and organizational issues, the Aragonese victory at Nicotera set the trend of Aragonese naval supremacy that would mark much of the rest of the War of the Sicilian Vespers.