Number 4 Italian Surname Bianchi There is not a lot of information about the Bianchi surname.  Based on what I found below there are two possible origins.  There are many branches of the name or family, with many Stemmari ( Crests ) recorded by Stemmario It. Bianchi is the plural of whites. “People of light complexion” is a good guess, but not an educated one. A religious cult called the “Bianchi” because they dressed in white robes did develop in Italy about the time the family was named, but it seems these people did not take thisi as their surname because it had already been taken by members of a political group: When the Ghibelline, who supported the Holy Roman Empire (with its German Emperor), were banished from Florence in the 14th century, divisiveness continued. The Guelphs, victorious against the Ghibelline in their struggle for local autonomy, split into the Bianchi and the Neri (the whites and the blacks). The Neri then succeeded in banishing the Bianchi (including the writer Dante Aligieri). There is also a town in Calabria — Bianchi, so it is most likely that some people with this surname got there name from there. It has been written that some Bianchi ancestors had previously been known, in 3rd century Rome, by the name of Plantus.   Bianchi Stemma There are two families with the name Bianchi recorded in the Libro d’oro della Nobilita Mediterannea, so if your last name is Bianchi it is possible that you come from one of these noble families. Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Geographical distribution equency Rank in Area Italy 133,437 1:458 5 Brazil 21,771 1:9,394 596 Argentina 16,189 1:2,640 343 United States 12,217 1:29,570 3,647 France 6,583 1:10,103 964 Switzerland 3,725 1:2,205 231 Uruguay 1,710 1:2,004 241 Canada 1,196 1:30,768 4,014 Spain 801 1:58,164 5,358 England 763 1:72,870 8,366 Russo Links Bianchi Link from Ancestry Bianchi Link from surname web search Bianchi Link from Forbears Italian Name Search Link

Number 3 Italian Surname Esposito This is one of the most interesting finds to date.  Not only is there information on Esposito, but also on how Italians would name foundlings or orphans.  There are many designations. Photo By I, Sailko,  Esposito(Italian pronunciation: [eˈspɔːzito]) is a common Italian surname. It ranks fourth among the most widespread surnames in Italy.[1]Although it is frequent throughout the country, it is especially prevalent in the Campaniaregion and, most specifically, in the Naplesarea.[2][3] Etymology and history Etymologically, this surname is thought to derive from Latinexpositus(Italian esposto, Old Italianor dialectesposito), which is the past participleof the Latin verb exponere(“to place outside”, “to expose”) and literally means “placed outside”, “exposed”.[4] Italian tradition claims that the surname was given to foundlingswho were abandoned or given up for adoption and handed over to an orphanage(an Ospizio degli espostiin Italian, literally a “home or hospice of the exposed”).[5]They were called espositibecause they would get abandoned and “exposed” in a public place. Some orphanages maintained a so-called Ruota degli esposti(English: “Wheel of the exposed”)where abandoned children could be placed. After the unification of Italy, laws were introduced forbidding the practice of giving surnames that reflected a child’s origins. Crude meaning is bastard child, or out of wedlock. As a surname, Esposito has produced a number of variants throughout modern Italy, such as D’Esposito, Degli Esposti, Esposti, Esposto, Sposito, etc. Other variants are also found in the Spanish-speaking world, for example Espósitoand Expósito. In the US in 1880, the most common occupation for Esposito’s was grocery store owner.   Join Italian Roots And Genealogy On Facebook Italian Infant Abandonment From about the thirteenth century through the end of the nineteenth century, throughout the areas that in 1860 became unified Italy, a pregnant single woman, faced with the loss of her own and her family’s honor, would leave her residence to give birth elsewhere and after having the baby baptized, would give (or have the midwife give) the newborn baby to a foundling home (ospizio) to be cared for by others. For about a year after giving birth, the unwed mother, in order to pay for her own infant’s care, often served in the ospizio as a wet nurse for the children of others though almost never for her own child. (Kertzer, pp. 131-33, 162-63.) With few exceptions, she would have no contact with her child ever again. Other new mothers anonymously abandoned their infants at the “wheel” (la ruota) located in the outside wallof the ospizio, sometimes leaving a sign of recognition (segno di riconoscimento), such as the image of a saint, a foreign coin, a torn piece of cloth, or other talisman, to preserve the mother’s ability, rarely exercised, of returning to reclaim the child, sometimes a year later or even many years later. Meanwhile, the foundling homes attempted to place the babies with lactating women in foster families, typically in the countryside, though some of the children remained in an ospizio for up to five or ten years or even longer and in some cases for their entire lives. (Kertzer, pp. 85-6, 116.) Naples was an exception; due to lack of funding to pay external wet nurses, the foundling home there attempted to care for the bulk of its abandoned babies within the foundling home itself, without placement with outside wet nurses. (Kertzer & White, 1994, p. 454.) Large percentages of the abandoned infants did not survive infancy. Those who did survive entered a new life in a new place with a new family. This system — which began in the areas that later became Italy and which spread to France, Belgium, Portugal, Spain, Ireland, Poland, and most of the Austrian provinces (Kertzer, p. 10) — was finally abandoned in Italy and elsewhere by about the beginning of the twentieth century. Some aspects of the system have re-emerged today in the “safe-haven laws” enacted recently in all 50 states and the District of Columbia within the United States (Guttmacher, p. 1) and in such other countries as Germany, Hungary, the Philippines, Slovakia, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, Poland, Czech Republic, Latvia, India, Italy, and Pakistan, all of which strictly govern but to varying degrees permit some form of abandonment of newborns, all with the aim to help stem infanticide and make abortion rare. (Mueller & Scherr, p. 2.) As conducted in Italy for about seven centuries, with varying degrees of success, the infant abandonment system was prompted by “great concern for the lives of women who found themselves in the desperate position of being pregnant and unmarried, with no one to care for their child.” (Kertzer, p. 37.) Name-Assignment Practices The Italian infant-abandonment system generally but not always included the assignment of a surname to the infant upon arrival at the ospizio. Thus while in the ospizio and later when placed with a family in the countryside, the child bore a surname different from its unknown family of origin and different from the family with which it was placed. (Kertzer, pp. 119-22.) “Until the nineteenth century, foundlings in many areas were baptized with first names only and were not given a last name.” (Kertzer, p. 119.) But generally, upon arrival at the ospizio shortly after baptism, a new surname was assigned. And once the infant or child was placed with a wet nurse in the countryside, it would be assigned a surname used locally for foundlings (such as Della Casa or Casagrande or Esposito, as shown by a few examples in the table below). For the most part the new surname was used by the child throughout the remainder of its life, though often at the time of marriage or with the births of children to that marriage, the once-abandoned child, even a male child, might assume the surname of a spouse, passing that surname on to the children of the couple.    Latin or Italian Meaning in English  Della Casagrande “Of the Ospizio” (of the Hospital or Hospice)  De Domo Magna  “Of the Ospizio” (of the Hospital or Hospice) Innocenti                                        “Innocent One” Della Scala Name assigned by foundling home in Sienna Projetti Name assigned by foundling home in Rome Esposito  “Abandoned” Degli Esposti  “Abandoned” Ospizio  Foundling Home Incogniti  “Unknown” Circoncisi  “Circumcised” Palma Surname given to child born or abandoned on Palm Sunday Thus, for example, if an abandoned child named Giuseppe were to have come from the ospizio to a local wet nurse to be taken in by a local family, the child might be raised with the “Casagrande” surname and, upon marriage to a woman maiden surnamed “Risso,” might thereafter in the records of births of their children be referred to as “Giuseppe Risso Casagrande” or “Giuseppe Risso della Casa Grande” or “Giuseppe Risso di Casa,” or the like. Sometimes the surnames assigned in the ospizi were used by the child throughout its life, with no new assignment in the residence location of the adopting family. Such names were usually unique. In the Florence ospizio, sometimes an elaborate form of the first name was used for the new surname, such as by pluralizing the first name (Amato Amati, Barbera Barberi) or by abbreviating the first name (Serafino Serafi, Anselmo Selmi). In Milan, from 1475 to 1825, every foundling was given the surname Colombo (“pigeon”), still the second most common surname in Milan and the fifth most common surname in all of Italy. Because of the stigma often formerly attached to children of illegitimate birth, and the manner in which that stigma often was perpetuated by the assignment of surnames that signaled the child’s early history of abandonment, efforts sometimes were made to assign surnames that hid that history. For example, in 1862 in Bologna, wet nurses were ordered to register the births of foundlings and provide them with both first and last names, but it was suggested that surnames be derived from words descriptive of things within one of the three kingdoms of nature (minerals, vegetables, and animals), such as Gessi (gypsum), Sassi (stones), Pietra (rock), Monti (mountains), Foblia (leaf), Rosa (rose), Garofonio (carnation), Colombi (pigeons), Leoni (lions). This practice spread through much of the northern part of Italy. Parenthetically, the suname “Casagrande,” mentioned in a few examples above, means literally “large house” and is an apt description of the massive Ospedale di Pammatone in Genoa (1766-1942), a location where ever enlarging hospital structures were established between about 1422 and 1942 when the Pammatone was destroyed during the Second World War. It is where, for one example of thousands upon thousands, in about 1761 or 1762 a man named Francesco della Casa Grande was abandoned at the ruota of the ospedale and cared for as an abandoned infant before being placed in the municipality of Lumarzo, 27 km (17 mi.) to the east by north east of Genoa, where he would live until 1849 when he died there at 87 years of age. (Sign in and see his Lumarzo death certificate at https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26956-14185-2.) Numerous images of the hospital, including paintings and photographs, both before and after its destruction, can easily be found by performing an image search on the Internet. * Notethat the following surnames, identified as ones given to abandoned infants, are discussed in Ettore Rossoni’s “L’Origine dei Cognomi Italiani: Storia ed Etimologia” [“The Origin of Italian Surnames: History and Etymology”] (Melegnano, 2014; 3,379 pages; available at https://archive.org/details/OrigineEStoriaDeiCognomiItaliani), and that source should be consulted for further details: Abbandonati, Abbandonato, Abbisogni, Abbisogno, Alfeni, Allevato, Alunni, Alunno, Angiolilli, Angiolillo, Aprile•, Aprili•, Ardimenti, Ardimento, Ardimentoso, Attivissimo, Auxilia, Bellavia, Bellinvia, Boccafusca, Bompadre, Bompede, Bonafiglia, Bonasorte, Bonasorti, Boncordi, Boncordo, Boncore, Bonerba, Bonocore, Bonpadre, Bonpede, Buccafusca, Buccafuschi, Buccafusco, Buocore, Buompede, Buonafiglia, Buonasorte, Buoncuore, Buonerba, Buonocore, Buonpadre, Buonpede, Cancelli, Cancellini, Cancellino, Cancello, Canciello, D’Aprile•, Dal Pio Luogo, Dal Pio, De Munda, De Mondi, De Chiara, De Vivo, De Vivi, De Nichilo, De Mundo, Degli Innocenti, Degli Esposti, Degliesposti, Del Pio Luogo, Del Pio, Del Mondo, Del Deo, Del Signore, Del Popolo, Della Ventura, Delpopolo, Demundo, Deserti, Devivi, Devivo, Di Monda, Di Mundo, Didio, Dimonda, Dimondo, Dimundo, Espositi, Esposito, Esposti, Esposto, Febbraio•, Febbraro•, Giubilei, Giubileo, Iddiolosa, Iddiolosà, Incristi, Infante, Infanti, Infantini, Infantino, Iuorno, La Loggia, Lettera, Lo Bascio, Lobascio, Lodeserto, Loggia, Lombini, Lombino, Luggesi, Luggisi, Lunalbi, Malvestio, Malvestiti, Malvestito, Mellucci, Melluccio, Melucci, Meluccio, Mirsi, Misericordia, Monasteri, Monastero, Nichil, Nichilo, Nihil, Orfanelli, Orfanelli, Orfanini, Orfanini, Paradisi, Paradiso, Pensato, Pentecoste, Perchiacca, Portento, Posati, Posato, Poveri, Poverini, Poverino, Provvidenza, Puttin, Puttini, Radif, Ravveduto, Sacro Cuore, Sacro, Salesiani, Santececca, Settembre•, Trova, Trovatelli, Trovatello, Trovati, Trovato, Ulivini, Viavattene, Zambaglione, Zoccola, Zoccoli, Zoccolo. Esposito Links Esposito Link from Ancestry Esposito Link from Italian Genealogy Foundling Surnames Link from Italian Surname Database More Names #1 Russo #2 Ferrari

Number 1 Italian Surname Russo Russo(Italian: [ˈrusso], Sicilian: [ˈrussʊ]) is a common Siciliansurname, historically denoting nobility.[2]The root of the name originates from Medieval Latin for, Rus’,meaning, “the Norseman”—the Viking founders of the Russian Principalities—from Old Norse, “the men who row”.[3]The first recorded entry of the name Russo was discovered in the documents of Sperlinga Castle in Enna, Sicily, dated 1132.[1]Under the Norman rule of Sicily, King Roger II had granted the land title of Sperlinga Castle to one of his descendants, Riccardo, whom the King had made a baron.[citation needed]The Normans were descendants of the Viking Norseman who conquered Sicily, and Riccardo was a direct descendent of the House Hauteville(in Sicilian, d’Autavilla). As a Baron, Riccardo then presumably took the surname Russo Rosso and bestowed to the castle a coat of arms featuring a comet against a red backdrop.[1]Prior to the Norman invasion of England, there was no recognizable system for hereditary coats of arms, but it was following that conquest that the Middle Ages saw the dawn of heraldry.[citation needed]The features of the banner are significant in that they provide an explanation and give historical context to the devising of the title, Russo Rosso: red is an archetypal color symbolizing The Warrior, or in general, War, and the image of Halley’s comethas been characterized as an icon for the Viking Invaders, e.g. in the Bayeux Tapestry, denoting a portent of doomfor the opposing forces. It is perhaps owing to the original tandem identity of  “Russo Rosso” that the same heraldry is cross-referenced for both the families Rosso and Russo Camoli,[4][5]and it is likely resulting from this coupling that both Russo and Rosso carry connotations of the word, “red.” It is useful to note that while Rosso does indeed directly translate from the Italian as, “red,” the word Rus’ does not. The origins of Russo and all of its cultural variants, such as the Greek, Rhoussos (from Rhos), the French Rousseau, or the English, Russell(from Anglo-Norman) are all explicitly derived from the word Rus’, and yet, unjustifiably, the connotation of the color red remains part of the elementary explanations of their origins[6] Click here to join Italian Genealogy Blog on Facebook Shop the Italian Marketplace for your Russo Tee Shirt and other great products.  Select our design or make your own.  Printed and shipped worldwide! Geographical distribution As of 2014, 61.5% of all known bearers of the surname Russowere residents of Italy(frequency 1:277), 18.6% of the United States(1:5,429), 5.1% of Argentina(1:2,347), 4.6% of Brazil(1:12,345), 1.1% of France(1:17,406) and 1.0% of Australia(1:6,667). In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:277) in the following regions: 1. Campania(1:72) 2. Sicily(1:123) 3. Calabria(1:155) 4. Apulia(1:205) 5. Basilicata(1:213) In Argentina, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:2,347) in the following provinces: 1. Buenos Aires(1:1,034) 2. Buenos Aires Province(1:1,657) In the United States, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:5,429) in the following states: 1. Connecticut(1:1,360) 2. Rhode Island(1:1,384) 3. New Jersey(1:1,433) 4. New York(1:1,560) 5. Massachusetts(1:1,920) 6. Florida(1:3,605) 7. Pennsylvania(1:3,637) 8. New Hampshire(1:3,888) 9. Louisiana(1:3,949) 10. Delaware(1:3,981) 11. Nevada(1:4,507) 12. Maine(1:4,594) In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:12,345) only in one state:[7] 1. São Paulo(1:4,431   Russo Links Russo Link from Ancestry Russo Link from Forbears Russo Link from igenea.  They have a research project for Russo. Hi, and welcome to the RUSSO / ROUSSO surname project! We are interested in performing y-chromosome DNA testing of people with the surname RUSSO or its common spelling variations, including ROUSSO, ROUSSEAU, RUSO, RUZO, etc., in order to look for common ancestors and common lineages. Most people with this surname had roots in Spain and Italy. Most are Catholic, but some are Sephardic Jews whose ancestors fled the Inquisition for other areas in the Mediterranean, including the Ottoman Empire. We are curious to see if we can re-link these RUSSO families into a larger and more cohesive family tree through genetic genealogy. If you are a male and your patrilineal line (that is, your father’s father’s father’s…father’s line) has the surname RUSSO or one of its spelling variants, please consider joining our project. Hopefully, you’ll find a relative here. If you are a female, please ask your brother or father to take the test. Please note: we encourage prospective members of the RUSSO surname project to test at least 25 markers, or better yet test the full 37 or 67 markers. When choosing a test to order to join this project, please choose the 25, 37, or 67 marker y-chromosome DNA test. If you have already tested 12 markers, please choose to upgrade your test results to 25, 37, or 67 markers. Share on facebook Facebook Share on google Google+ Share on twitter Twitter Share on linkedin LinkedIn

Linda Rovetti-Goldstein talks about her father born in the USA only to return to Italy as a baby when his father passed away. As a teenager he came back to the USA and live in Hoboken NJ. UPDATE October 2022  Linda worked with my friend Francesco Curione 007 Italian Records. Where are you Febronia?This incredible story from yesterdays adventure is long but worth the read if you enjoy genealogy.It can be summed up with this question above which is still difficult to answer. . .The Setting:Patti, province of Messina early 1900s.. .two sisters Febronia and Concetta are happily married to their husbands, between them about 5 or 6 children, after a few years Febronia dies and Concetta’s husband dies, two people who are in-laws find themselves alone.A man who needs a woman to look after the children of his first wife, a woman who needs the protection of a man to protect the family.The simplest solution is a marriage between the two of them, Concetta and Paolo get married but where?This was the first mystery, Linda and Corinne my clients despite a long search had not been able to find the wedding in USA or confirm date it occurred.Someone was looking out from above because by pure luck and deep digging after not finding it the office was able locate what is called a Residence document. This was hitting the jackpot!Thanks to this discovery it confirmed and discover that the wedding was celebrated in America in Hoboken NJ in 1912 where the young Sicilian couple had emigrated.From their union were born other children. They were living happily as a family until life was not easy for this family as a hard fate was waiting.In 1918 Paolo her husband died, Concetta for the second time in her life found herself alone with many children including a very young baby, from her first and second marriage all born in America and of Paulo’s first wife.what was Concetta going to do now?Concetta makes the decision and decides to return to Sicily in Patti where her mother was still living.In 1919 she sees the Sicilian sun again and she goes to live in the same house where she was born in via dei mercanti with her 7 children.She is trying to look after the family with great sacrifices!But life was again unfair in 1922 Concetta dies of tuberculosis, the children remain alone while some uncles decide what to do.4 are sent to America to stay with relatives , the girls adopted by families, and two boys sent to an orphanage.One of the two boys is called Calogero and he was the father of my clients.We are in 1922 Calogero is only 4 years old, after losing his father and his mother he finds himself facing life alone!Calogero, who was born in America, remains in an orphanage until he is 16.Thanks to the nuns he learns the craft of typography ( printing) and will always be grateful to them because it will be his job in the united states when at the age of 18 he decides to emigrate.Another trip from Patti to America, but this time it’s forever.Calogero an American citizen opens a printing shop thanks to the profession that the Sicilian nuns had taught him.America gives him the opportunity to redeem himself, to have a family and he had children including his two daughters ( my clients) who are born named Linda and Corinne.Two different sisters, one very organized the other more adventure.Linda who is passionate about genealogy begins to ask for information from her father who, however, little talks about his hard past, so Linda and Corinne do everything alone including hours months years spent rebuilding the puzzle of his life and of their origins.One mystery was there always something missing when the first wife Febronia died?They have never been able to find the death certificate that gave value to their grandfather’s second marriage. . .but there was also a problem, when and where was the second marriage celebrated?It was time to organize a trip to Sicily only here the mystery could be solved here where it all started and could possibly find answers!Linda and Corinne contact me, Francesco we need your help, they tell me their story.I was able to hear an podcast interview Linda did with my friend Bob Sorrentino who runs a genealogy blog.I was able to listen and perceive their desire for truth and I immediately got to work.In a month of time I contact everything and everyone, offices, church, archives, mayor, I put as many cards on the table as possible to achieve the result.We were able to find a residency document called family status which is a map for someone who loves genealogy, it really contains all the information.From there we found the American marriage, the dates of return to Italy, all the baptismal and marriage acts in the church, the street where they lived. . . And a Twist!We FOUND the transcript of Calogero’s American birth certificate!Yes Calogero was an Italian citizen, and NOBODY knew it, perhaps not even Calogero himself, his mother, poor Concetta, in 1920 had made a gesture that would have changed the history of my clients’ citizenship quest!!She had brought the birth certificate of her son from the United States with the translation and got the transcript.LINDA AND CORINNE are daughters of an Italian father!That gesture by Concetta was a gift for future generations!They will be able to claim citizenship starting from their father instead of find a way to prove paternity and a wedding was valid!Their love of family history, genealogy, dual citizenship and intense search for other documents eventually led them to discover the most important document the transcription of the birth certificate of the Father! Click the photo to reach Francesco Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

In this episode I talk to Dan Zongrone again with his mom Lucrezia who grew up in Utica NY. Lucrezia tells about growing up Italian in pre-war Utica and about the war years, her family and first trip to Italy. Visit Dan’s Facebook Page Cropani nel Cuore Taking advance orders for my book to be released Oct 21. Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video