For those of you who have viewed previous posts, I’ve decided to take a different approach.  Rather than post individual grandparents, I’m going to post the family name and some of the history.  I think that will be more meaningful, especially with my Italian readers.  I’m hoping if you have the same last name, it may prompt you explore your roots.  As it get’s to cumbersome to print all the generations, I will do 5 or 6 levels of descendants, beginning with the most prominent member For the Montefeltro’s I am starting with Frederico, my 15th great grandfather Descendant chart for Frederico Frederico da Montefeltro Duke of Urbino Click here to follow our Facebook page Montefeltro Family, noble family of Urbino, a city in the Italian Marches, southeast of Florence, that rose to become a ruling dynasty and produced several outstanding political and military leaders from the 13th to the 16th century. Descendants of an older noble family, they took their name from the ancient town of Mons Feretri, later San Leo, where they first rose to prominence.By 1234 the family ruled Urbino. During the remainder of the 13th and early 14th centuries the family was prominent on the Ghibelline (imperial) side in the struggle between emperor and pope. Guido da Montefeltro, mentioned in Dante’s Inferno, fought against the Guelf (papal) party in Romagna and Tuscany before submitting to Pope Boniface VIII in 1295; he died a Franciscan monk in 1298. His son Federigo sustained the Ghibelline cause in north central Italy and ruled Urbino until 1322, when he was killed in an insurrection. His son Nolfo temporarily recovered Urbino but in the end lost it to the papal party. Nolfo’s grandson Antonio (died 1403) recovered the family power once more (1377) and even extended it to neighbouring towns, making peace with the pope, who named him vicar, a title he successfully passed on to his son Guidantonio (died 1443). The latter’s marriage to a daughter of the papal-related Colonna family cemented the new alliance, and papal support assisted the Montefeltro in resisting the Malatesta family, lords of Rimini. Guidantonio’s illegitimate son Federico (1422–82) became an outstanding military leader, captaining the papal army against the Malatesta and his own against the pope, and suppressing a revolt in Volterra as a mercenary in the pay of Lorenzo de’ Medici. He spent his war profits on monumental building, on a library, and on art. Pope Sixtus IV made him duke of Urbino in 1474. Federico’s son Guidobaldo was the last ruling Montefeltro; dispossessed by Cesare Borgia in 1502, he recovered his state, but being without heirs adopted his nephew Francesco Maria della Rovere, into whose family Urbino then passed. His court, a notable centre of culture, is commemorated in Baldassare Castiglione’s Il cortegiano (1528).  CITATION INFORMATIONARTICLE TITLE: Montefeltro FamilyWEBSITE NAME: Encyclopaedia BritannicaPUBLISHER: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.DATE PUBLISHED: 27 November 2007URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/Montefeltro-familyACCESS DATE: February 05, 2019 Wikipedia link to Frederico

Caracciolo Rossi I descend from King Alfonso through my paternal great grandmother’s mother, Maria Emilia Caracciolo di Torchiarolo. Her grandfather was Prince Luigi, who came from the Princes of Avellino. Follow Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Text in Italian and English Alfonso V, byname Alfonso the Magnanimous, Spanish Alfonso el Magnánimo, (born 1396—died June 27, 1458, Naples), king of Aragon (1416–58) and king of Naples (as Alfonso I, 1442–58), whose military campaigns in Italy and elsewhere in the central Mediterranean made him one of the most famous men of his day. After conquering Naples, he transferred his court there. Life Alfonso was born and brought up in the brilliant Castilian court at Medina del Campo. When he was 16, his father became king of Aragon, and he himself went to live there. Three years later (1415) he married his cousin María, the daughter of Henry III of Castile, but she produced no children, and they were separated for many years. The marriage was a failure and perhaps helps to explain Alfonso’s reluctance to return to his peninsular kingdoms after he had conquered Naples, where he was encouraged to remain by his mistress, Lucrezia de Alagno. He succeeded his father as king of Aragon in 1416 and, at the beginning of his reign, had political difficulties with both Catalans and Aragonese, because he retained some Castilian counsellors and deprived the justicia, the supreme law officer of Aragon, of his position. From the moment of his accession, Alfonso continued the traditional Aragonese policy of Mediterranean expansion. Thus, in 1420 he set out with a fleet to pacify Sardinia and Sicily and to attack the Genoese possession of Corsica. The queen of Naples, Joan II, then sought his help against Louis III of Anjou and adopted him as her son and heir. Alfonso was received as a liberator in Naples on July 5, 1421, but the volatile character of the queen, who soon afterward began to make overtures to Louis of Anjou, obliged Alfonso in 1423 to return to Catalonia to seek reinforcements. After intervening in the internal politics of Castile to defend the interests of his brothers Henry and John in the near civil war that existed during the weak rule of John II, Alfonso set out again for Italy, from where, as it turned out, he was never to return. He was receiving tempting offers (1432) to intervene again in Naples and spent two years in Sicily preparing his fleet and army. His opportunity seemed to come in 1435, after the deaths of Louis III of Anjou and Queen Joan II, but while blockading the port of Gaeta, a key citadel from which to launch an attack on Naples, he was defeated off the island of Ponza by a Genoese squadron. Alfonso was captured, with many others, and sent as a prisoner to Genoa and then to Milan, whose duke, Filippo Maria Visconti, ruled both cities. Alfonso, however, charmed his captor into an alliance and then continued his fight to gain possession of Naples against the opposition of Venice, Florence, and the pope. He took Naples on June 2, 1442, and transferred his court there permanently in 1443. It became a brilliant centre of art and culture, fed by the fertile interaction of Italian Renaissance and Spanish Gothic influences and forming a cultural bridge between the two peninsulas of the western Mediterranean. Alfonso engaged in much diplomatic and military activity in Africa, the Balkans, and the eastern Mediterranean in order to protect his commerce with the East and to share in the defense of Christendom against the Turks. He helped the Knights of St. John defend Rhodes; allied himself with Hungary (1444), Serbia (1447), and Abyssinia (1450); and fought against Egypt (1453–54). But he was not strong enough to prevent the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453. Meanwhile, his Spanish dominions were suffering from serious unrest, the result of social and economic tensions to which no solution could be found by his viceroys, his queen, Maria, and his brother John of Navarre. In Catalonia the remensa, the peasantry, were vigorously seeking to be freed from feudal dues and received some support from the crown. In Majorca a popular rising, which led to fighting between the capital of the island and the rural population, had to be crushed by troops that Alfonso sent from Naples. And in Barcelona a serious class struggle caused so many disturbances in the city that Alfonso reformed the city government, allowing public offices to be distributed by lot. Meanwhile, the sporadic war with Castile both impoverished the kingdom of Aragon and deprived Alfonso and his family of their ancestral estates in Castile. Only Valencia, with its flourishing economy, remained unharmed by the general crisis. A restless, energetic ruler to the last, Alfonso was engaged in an assault upon Genoa, which had recently surrendered to the French, when death surprised him in Ovo Castle at Naples in June 1458. In the Kingdom of Naples he was succeeded by his illegitimate son, Ferrante, and in his other states by his brother John (King John II of Aragon), who had been king of Navarre since 1425. Legacy Alfonso was praised, respected, and admired by the writers of his own time and also by those of the next generation. The latter were still close enough to him to draw upon a living tradition but were free of the desire to flatter that affected his contemporaries. Among Alfonso’s apologists were the Italian humanist scholars Antonio Beccadelli, Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomini (Pope Pius II), Vespasiano da Bisticci, and Giovanni Pontano. They praised Alfonso for his humanist education and for his love of books and fine arts, for his delight in hunting, dancing, tournaments, and good clothes, and for his charity, clemency, and deep religious faith. He has been regarded by some scholars as a brilliant Renaissance prince and a great sovereign, but, in general, modern Spanish historians are less enthusiastic about Alfonso and blame him for occupying himself with amorous adventures in Naples while neglecting his duties to his peninsular territories. Emilio Sáez   Citation ARTICLE TITLE: Alfonso V WEBSITE NAME: Encyclopaedia Britannica PUBLISHER: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. DATE PUBLISHED: 01 January 2019 URL: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfonso-V-king-of-Aragon-and-Naples ACCESS DATE: January 01, 2019 ALFONSO V d’Aragona, re di Sicilia, re di Napoli. – Nacque presumibilmente nel 1396, da Ferdinando I. Educato in Medina del Campo alla corte di Enrico III di Castiglia – di cui, per ragioni dinastiche, sposerà nel 1415 la figlia Maria -, vi era stato iniziato, ai principi della religione e della morale, con insegnamenti di geometria, di astronomia e soprattutto di lingua latina e di grammatica. Grande posto, naturalmente, in quella educazione di corte era fatto agli esercizi fisici, militari, e soprattutto alla caccia, di cui il sovrano fu sempre amantissimo. Gli insegnamenti dello zio Enrico di Villena lo avvicinarono peraltro al mondo della cultura. Ma, più che l’educazione impartitagli, gli giovò, quasi lezione di vita, l’esempio del padre, Ferdinando d’Anteguera, la cui fermezza, prudenza ed abilità nel far valere, nel parlamento di Caspe (30 giugno 1412), i propri diritti fra i tanti pretendenti lasciò una forte traccia nell’animo del giovanetto sedicenne, che rimarrà sempre legato alla memoria del padre, di cui nella maturità farà celebrare le gesta da uno scrittore come Lorenzo Valla. E dové anche impressionarlo la fastosa incoronazione del nuovo re d’Aragona – descrittaci con tanta vivacità e tanta ricchezza di colori nelle pagine degli Annali dello Zurita – e nella quale egli stesso, oltre che al lato del padre, rappresentò una parte di primo piano, regolata da un apposito cerimoniale, per l’elevazione al principato di Gerona. Nei Consigli e alla scuola del padre, apprese presto ad occuparsi dei domini transmarini della casa, specialmente di Sardegna e di Sicilia, ricevendo una efficace lezione di esperienza anche nel seguire il modo con cui l’Aragona riuscì a districarsi durante il concilio di Costanza. Tanto che agli inizi del regno, A., pur schierandosi ufficialmente in favore di Martino V, continuò a tollerare che l’antipapa Benedetto XIII rimanesse in Aragona, nel castello di Peñiscola. er di più, nei negoziati che, durante il regno di Ferdinando, si avviarono per le eventuali nozze tra il principe secondogenito Giovanni duca di Peñiafiei e la regina Giovanna II, A. si era venuto convincendo della necessità che il regno d’Aragona, per rendere veramente efficiente la dominazione in Sicilia e in Sardegna, che è a dire nel Mediterraneo, tenesse saldamente un piede nella penisola italiana. Il dominio sulle isole d’Italia era, come è risaputo, tradizionale presso gli aragonesi sin dal tempo di Pietro III e di Giacomo II, ma dominare su Napoli fu un’idea che prese corpo definito solo nel regno dell’Anteguera, ché, se suggestioni in tal senso si erano già avute precedentemente nell’epoca dei Martini, esse erano state recisamente respinte. Con A. quel proposito non tardò a divenire l’idea centrale, ispiratrice di ogni sua azione politica; e ad essa egli tenne ostinatamente fede, mai distogliendo lo sguardo, malgrado i rovesci di fortuna e le forzate parentesi della conquista napoletana. Grave l’eredità di Ferdinando I, morto il 2 aprile 1416, cui A. succedette come Alfonso V. Interrotta la politica di espansione nei confronti di Napoli e della Corsica; incerti i rapporti col papato di Roma; forze centrifughe minavano la compagine stessa dei tradizionali territori della corona. Già nelle Cortes di Barcellona del 1412-13 aveva avuto inizio una offensiva “pactista” contro i poteri della Corona e nella seduta del 26 genn. 1413 si era sostenuta la teoria che i privilegi sovrani che si opponessero a leggi “pazionate” o, quel che è più, contrastassero “col bene pubblico” dovessero essere nulli. Bibl.: Per le fonti e la bibliografia relativa ad Alfonso d’Aragona si veda quanto è indicato in A. Boscolo, Ferdinando I e Alfonso il Magnanimo nella storiografia, in Medio Evo Aragonese, Padova 1958, pp. 151-165, a cui vanno aggiunti i lavori seguenti: E. Dupré – Theseider, La politica italiana di Alfonso d’Aragona, “ponencia” presentata al congresso della corona di Aragona in Palma de Mayorca 1955 e, più estesamente, in un corso litografato, Bologna 1956; A. Marongiu, Il parlamento baronale del regno di Napoli nel 1443, in Samnium, XXIII (1950), n. 4, pp. 1-16; G. V. Resta, L’epistolario del Panormita, Messina 1954 (con indicazioni bibliografiche ulteriori per i rapporti di A. con l’Umanesimo alle pp. 23-27; 127-131); T. De Marinie, La liberazione d’Alfonso V d’Aragona, in Arch. stor. per le prov. nap., LXXIII (1953-54, ma pubbl. 1955), pp. 101-106; E. Pontieri, Muzio Attendolo e Francesco Sforza nei conflitti dinastico–civili nel regno di Napoli al tempo di Giovanna II d’Angiò–Durazzo, in Studi storici in onore di G. Volpe, II, Firenze 1958, pp. 826 ss.; id., La giovinezza di Ferrante d’Aragona, in Studi in onore di R. Filangieri, I, Napoli 1959,pp. 530-601; G. Cassandro, Sulle origini del Sacro Consiglio Napoletano, in Studi, cit., [I, Napoli 1959, pp. 1-17. Descendants of Alfonso V Alfonso V Dec Report  

Great conversation on Italian Food with Letizia Sinisi from Italy Rooting, Peppe from My Bella Vita Travel, Elena Frigenti from Franky In NY, John Sorrentino and Rich Leto. Click here to follow our Facebook page Video

It’s really amazing to see who your ancestors were, assuming that you are lucky enough to find that one recent ancestor that has links back as far as the 6th or 7th century.  Before then, much of the history is suspect and there is also a lot of myth and speculation involved.  Many of the saints are pretty well documented though and St. Adelaide is one. Saint Adelaide de Bourgogne’s relation to you: Direct ancestor (32 generations) Here’s how: 1. Nicholas Victor Sorrentino is your father 2. Maria Luigia Piromallo is the mother of Nicholas Victor Sorrentino 3. Maria Emilia Caracciolo is the mother of Maria Luigia Piromallo 4. Filippo Caracciolo is the father of Maria Emilia Caracciolo 5. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Filippo Caracciolo 6. Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo 7. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo 8. Ambrogio Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo 9. Prince Marino III Caracciolo is the father of Ambrogio Caracciolo 10. Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo is the father of Prince Marino III Caracciolo 11. Francesca D’AVOLOS is the mother of Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo 12. Innico III D’Avalos is the father of Francesca D’AVOLOS 13. Cesare D’Avalos is the father of Innico III D’Avalos 14. Maria Aragon is the mother of Cesare D’Avalos 15. Fernando Aragon is the father of Maria Aragon 16. Ferdinand I Naples is the father of Fernando Aragon 17. Alfonso V Aragon is the father of Ferdinand I Naples 18. Ferdinand I De Antequera Aragon is the father of Alfonso V Aragon 19. Juan Castile is the father of Ferdinand I De Antequera Aragon 20. Juana Manuel De Villena Escalona Penafiel is the mother of Juan Castile 21. Juan Manuel of Penafiel is the father of Juana Manuel De Villena Escalona Penafiel 22. Manuel Fernandez of Castile is the father of Juan Manuel of Penafiel 23. Elisabeth Von Hohenstaufen is the mother of Manuel Fernandez of Castile 24. Philip Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Elisabeth Von Hohenstaufen 25. Frederick Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Philip Von Hohenstaufen 26. Friedrich II Swabia is the father of Frederick Von Hohenstaufen 27. Frederick Von Hohenstaufen is the father of Friedrich II Swabia 28. Hildegarde Vonhohenlohe is the mother of Frederick Von Hohenstaufen 29. Otto Ii Herzog Palatine Swabia is the father of Hildegarde Vonhohenlohe 30. Matilda Von Sachsen is the mother of Otto Ii Herzog Palatine Swabia 31. Otto Von Sachsen is the father of Matilda Von Sachsen 32. Saint Adelaide de Bourgogne von Hevell of Italy ‘Burgandy’ is the mother of Otto Von Sachsen St. Adelaide, also called St. Adelaide of Burgundy, German Adelheid die Heilige, French Sainte Adélaïde, Italian Santa Adelaide, (born c.931—died December 16, 999, Seltz, Alsace [now in France]; feast day December 16), consort of the Western emperor Otto Iand, later, regent for her grandson Otto III. One of the most influential women of 10th-century Europe, she helped strengthen the German church while subordinating it to imperial power. The daughter of Rudolf II(died 937), king of Burgundy, and Bertha of Swabia, Adelaide was married (947) to Lothar, who succeeded his father, Hugh of Arles, as king of Italy in the same year. After Lothar died in 950, Berengar II of Ivrea, his old rival, seized the Italian throne and imprisoned Adelaide in 951 at Garda. After her escape four months later, she asked the German king Otto I the Great to help her regain the throne. Otto marched into Lombardyin September 951, declared himself king, and married her in October or November of that year. They were crowned emperor and empress by Pope John XIIin Rome in 962. She promoted Cluniac monasticism and strengthened the allegiance of the German church to the emperor, playing an important role in Otto I’s distribution of ecclesiastical privileges and participating in his Italian expeditions. After Otto’s death on May 7, 973, Adelaide exercised influence over her son Otto IIuntil their estrangement in 978, when she left the court and lived in Burgundywith her brother King Conrad. At Conrad’s urging, she became reconciled with her son, and, before his death in 983, Otto appointed her his regent in Italy. With her daughter-in-law, Empress Theophano, she upheld the right of her three-year-old grandson, Otto III, to the German throne. She lived in Lombardyfrom 985 to 991, when she returned to Germany to serve as sole regent after Theophano’s death (991). She governed until Otto III came of age in 994, and, when he became Holy Roman emperorin 996, she retired from court life, devoting herself to founding churches, monasteries, and convents. She was canonizedby Pope Urban IIin 1097. This article was most recently revised and updated by Melissa Petruzzello, Assistant Editor.  Citation InformationArticle Title:St. AdelaideWebsite Name:Encyclopaedia BritannicaPublisher:Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.Date Published:12 December 2018URL:https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-AdelaideAccess Date:February 28, 2019  Feastday:December 16 Patron of abuse victims; brides; empresses; exiles; in-law problems; parenthood; parents of large families; princesses; prisoners; second marriages; step-parents; widows Birth: 932 Death: 999 Please follow our Facebook page

We’re thrilled to have Mike Canzoniero, author of ‘Papa’s Story, America Through the Eyes of a Brave Italian Immigrant’ and ‘The Evil Eye, The Pure Heart’, with us, who will take us on a fabulous journey back in time. Hang on tight as Mike unfolds his family’s riveting saga, stretching from, Italy to San Francisco in 1890, revealing the undying spirit of his ancestors and their battles with adversity, including a heart-wrenching loss to the Russian flu.  Venture deeper into the Canzoniero family’s roots as Mike recounts the treasured generational heirlooms passed down to him and the life-altering influence of his grandfather. Get ready to step back into the 1870s and experience Italy and its people’s resilience while adapting to life in America, transitioning from an ice business in Italian Harlem to the butcher and grocery business. As we journey through time with Mike, we’ll also celebrate education’s power as he reveals how he was the first in his family to pursue advanced degrees, earning a much-deserved PhD. Finally, we’ll explore the art of preserving identity through stories. Listen to Mike as he shares his experience of penning two books and emphasizes the importance of recording family members’ tales, regardless of whether they’ll be published or not. k So, if you’re intrigued by Italian genealogy, passionate about family history, or simply enjoy compelling narratives, join us for an unforgettable journey through the lives of three generations of an Italian-American family. Farmers and Nobles traces the research path of blogger and podcast host Bob Sorrentino. Bob began researching his family roots in 2008 beginning with his great-grandfather’s calling card brought from Italy by his paternal grandmother Maria Luigia Piromallo.    Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video