Our Ancestors
Our Ancestors
We are Nobility
The information covered in this chapter is derived from a book
given to me by Guiseppe Tambini, my wife's cousin. The book is
a research document describing about three hundred families in
the Val Di Taro area from about the fifteenth century to early
nineteenth century. Of the 300 families about ten percent have
a family crest and are nobility. Fenaroli is one of those families.
The crest shown on the right above is the Fenaroli crest shown
in the book. What follows is the Fenaroli section taken from the book.
The Italian version of the section can be accessed by clicking
on:
Il Ceto Dirigente in Borgo Val Di Taro.
The following is from the book:
Title:Il Ceto Dirigente in Borgo Val Di Taro
By Maurizio De Meo
Research sponsored by The Valtaresi Association
ARMA: The crest shown is described.
Then there is a section giving the derivation of the name Fenaroli.
(see footnotes 1 & 2)
Body of the section:
A family of this name, (Fenaroli), is found in the Porcigatone area from
the XVI century on. They were councilmen and noblemen from Porcigatone as
follows:
My understanding is that as councilman they represented Porcigatone in the
councils of Borgotaro and the Dukedom of Parma and were members of the nobility.
There were also Fenaroli councilmen from the village of Pieve di Campi as follows:
There was also a branch of the family in Borgotaro. This branch of the family
had acquired a distinguished social position and were titled noblemen and
military man. In addition the family had significant ties with the church.
Presently there are no Fenaroli's living in the valley of the Taro and no
Fenaroli's in Borgotaro and Albareto.
The book also contains a old map of the castle of Borgotaro. The map is from the
XIX century and is entitled "Mappa catastalew dellacitta (sec XIX)".The map lays
out every building in the fortified town and gives the name of the building or
the name of the person living/owning the building. Signor Guilio Fenaroli is
shown for three buildings. Two of the buildings are near the Chiesa and convent of
St. Paolo della M. Francis.
I find it most interesting to see so many familiar names on the map. I was not
able to get a good scan of the map. Perhaps someone can volunteer to redraw the
map in a larger clearer scale. However I did scan the map in two pieces as shown below.
Fenaroli's are located in Buildings, 104, 188 and 217.
The book also contains information on many families familiar to us. Examples are,
Del Grosso, Beccarelli, Bertolotti, Bordi, Brugnoli,Capitelli, Corvi, Costa, Cresci,
Del Maestro, Ferrari, Leporati, Lusardi, Rizzi, Sartori, Spagnoli, Tambini, Vignali
and of course many others.
There are significant indications of important Fenaroli's living in Brescia and
in Lanciano. The villa Fenaroli is located in Brescia. There is a painting hanging
in The London National Gallery, " Portrait of a Lady of the Fenaroli family"
by G.B. Moroni. Moroni was from the Brescian school and painted the lady in 1580.
I have a copy of the painting, supplied by Yvonne Fenaroli. You can view it in the
"Old Photos" section.
Lanciano is a town noted for it's religious miracles and a significant number of
historic buildings and churches. The Teatro Fenaroli is located in Lanciano and
is still used today. In addition there is a well known school of music named
after Fedele Fenaroli. Fedele was a well known musician of his time. Surf the
Internet using Fedele Fenaroli as search argument and you will get many items
regarding this well known Musician.
Move on by selecting a new section from the left side.
Buon Viaggio...........
