We get some inside information from Naples resident Cristina Rizzo about the Historic Center and her rental flat. Cristina fills us in on some of the sights and what makes Naples unique from other large Italian cities. For more information on Spaccanapoli Home check out Sawdays. Visit Our Shop Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video

Number 14 Italian Surname Costa So number 14 on the list of most popular Italian Surnames — Costa.  Here’s one that I thought would be at least in the top 10.  I think I know more Costa’s than any other name on the list.  That being said some are also Spanish and Portuguese.   Costa is the 251st most common surname in the World. Costa(Italian: [ˈkɔsta], Portuguese: [ˈkɔʃtɐ, ˈkɔstɐ], Galician: [ˈkɔstɐ], Spanish: [ˈkosta], Catalan: [ˈkɔstə, ˈkɔsta]), sometimes da Costaor Da Costa, is an Italian(particularly in Liguria, Piedmontand Sardinia), Portuguese, Galician, Spanishand Catalansurname. Because of colonization and immigration, it is found throughout Latin America, being particularly common in Braziland Argentina. It is also a surname chosen by Jews, due to Roman Catholicconversions. There is also an unrelated Lebanese ‘Costa’ surname.[citation needed] In Italy, Portugal, Galicia and Catalonia it is derived from the Latin word COSTA, “rib”, which has come to mean slope, coast, in Romance languages. In the rest of Spain it comes from Catalonia or from Galicia, being the Spanish equivalent Cuesta.[1] Wikipedia This famous surname is recorded in many spellings throughout Europe. Its origins are in fact Roman (Latin) and it describes a person who lived by or on a ‘costa’, normally a riverbank, but sometimes ‘the coast’. The original translation from the pre Christian era of a ‘costa’ was the side (of a building), and by transference ‘the side of a river’. The spelling forms are found as the French Coste, Cote, Lacoste, Delacoste and Delcote, the Provencal Costa, and Costes, the Spanish and Portugese Acosta, Costa, and Cuesta, the Catalan Costa and Costas, the Italian Costa, Costi, and Da Costa, whilst the French diminutive spellings include Costel, Costeau, Cousteau, Cotteaux, Costiou, Coustet, Couston, Coustille, Costy, and the Spanish Costilla. Curiously the name when found in England as Cost, Coste, and Costa is not usually from this source at all, but from a nickname shortform of the Greek personal name ‘Constantine’, and as such ‘imported’ by the Crusders in the 12th century. Early examples of the surname recording from different countries include Thomas Coste who married Elizabeth Showner at All Hallows, London, England, in 1547, Sebastia Fortia Costa, who married Eluaria Matona at Bagur, San Pedro, Gerona, Spain, on March 10th 1613, Pierre de la Coste, who married Maria Dupuys, at La Rochelle, France, on April 13th 1614, and Mary Catherine Costa, christened at San Francisco, California, USA, on July 12th 1875. The coat of arms associated with the surnamew has the blazon of a blue field, a gold chevron pierced with a mans rib all gold, beneath two red roses. On a gold chief, a black imperial eagle displayed. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Miguel Martinez Costa, which was dated March 21st 1612, christened at Miranda de Arga, Navarra, Spain, during the reign of King Philip 111 of Spain, 1598 – 1621. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to “develop” often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling. © Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 – 2017 Surname Database Costa Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Click here to purchase your copy of Farmers and Nobles Geographical distribution As of 2014, 71.0% of all known bearers of the surname Costawere residents of Brazil(frequency 1:141), 7.6% of Portugal(1:67), 5.2% of Mozambique(1:255), 3.7% of Italy(1:801), 2.4% of the United States(1:7,460), 1.9% of Guinea-Bissau(1:44), 1.5% of Spain(1:1,531), 1.2% of East Timor(1:49) and 1.2% of Argentina(1:1,809). In Brazil, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:141) in the following states: Maranhão(1:46) Amapá(1:60) Pará(1:74) Roraima(1:77) Acre(1:93) Rio Grande do Norte(1:97) Amazonas(1:98) Ceará(1:112) Bahia(1:112) Tocantins(1:113) Sergipe(1:117) Piauí(1:119) Paraíba(1:120) Alagoas(1:131) Federal District(1:131) Minas Gerais(1:140) In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:801) in the following regions: Liguria(1:214) Sicily(1:374) Piedmont(1:458) Veneto(1:489) Emilia-Romagna(1:676) Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol(1:763) Lombardy(1:784) In Spain, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:1,531) in the following autonomous communities:[2] Balearic Islands(1:399) Catalonia(1:667) Galicia(1:672) Region of Murcia(1:845) Valencian Community(1:1,001) Costa Links Costa Link from Ancestry Costa Link from Forbears Costa Link from iGenea.  They have a project. Description: The Costa Family Project seeks to find common heritage through sharing of information and dna testing. Any variant spellings are welcome. Due to the fact that surnames in families of Iberian origin are often inherited matrilineally, mtDNA results will also be included in this project. O projeto da família Costa busca encontrar ancestrais comuns através do compartilhamento de informações e de testes de DNA. Quaisquer variações do sobrenome são bem-vindas. Devido ao fato de famílias de origens ibéricas muitas vezes herdarem sobrenomes pela linha feminina, resultados de DNA mitocondrial também serão incluídos neste projeto. Requirements: A Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname. They are of the most interest in cultures where surnames are passed on from father to son like the Y-Chromosome. This project is for males taking a Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) test. Thus, the individual who tests must be a male who wants to check his direct paternal line (father’s father’s father’s…) with a Y-DNA12, Y-DNA37, Y-DNA67, or Y-DNA111 test and who has one of the surnames listed for the project. Females do not carry their father’s Y-DNA. Females who would like to check their father’s direct paternal line can have a male relative with his surname order a Y-DNA test. Females can also order an mtDNA test for themselves such as the mtDNAPlus test or the mtFullSequence test and participate in an mtDNA project. Both men and women may take our autosomal Family Finder test to discover recent relationships across all family lines. #1 Russo #2 Ferrari #3 Esposito #4 Bianchi #5 Romano #6 Columbo #7 Ricci #8 Marino #9 Greco #10 Bruno #11 Gallo #12 Conti #13 DeLuca Costa Stemma It’s important to note that COA’s are assigned to a person, not a family.

Number 15 Italian Surname Giordano So number 15 on the list of most popular Italian Surnames — Giordano.  There is reference to a Giordano Family in the Nobility of Naples you can see the link below. This interesting surname is of Italian origin, and derives from the male given name Jordan, which takes the form of Giordana in Italy. The baptismal name is taken from the name of the river Jordan, Hebrew “Yarden”, from “yarad”, to go down, descend, i.e. to the Dead Sea. At the time of the Crusades it was common practice for crusaders and pilgrims to bring back flasks of water from the river in which John the Baptist had baptized people, including Christ himself, and to use it in the christening of their own children. Thus Jordan, and all its other forms, became quite a popular given name in commemoration of this. Recordings of the surname include: Pietra, son of Giacon Giordana, who was born in 1599 at Torre Pellice, Torino, Italy; Tommasa, son of Giordana and Lucia Giordano, who was born on December 30th 1628 at Savigliano, Cuneo, Italy; and Gennaro Giordano, who married Sarah Littlewood on February 9th 1796 at St. Mary’s Marylebone Road, London. A Coat of Arms granted to the Giordano family of Naples depicts a red fess charged with three gold mullets, in chief a black double headed eagle, winged red, charged on the breast with a silver cross on a silver field, in base two green trees on a green mount on a blue field. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Giacom Giordano, which was dated 1567, born at Torre Pellice, Torino, Italy, during the reign of Maximilian 11, “Habsburg Emperor”, 1564 – 1576. © Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 – 2017 Surname Database Costa Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Click here to order your copy of Farmers and Nobles Geographical distribution As of 2014, 60.3% of all known bearers of the surname Giordanowere residents of Italy(frequency 1:759), 17.3% of the United States(1:15,615), 9.4% of Argentina(1:3,390), 4.3% of France(1:11,633) and 3.3% of Brazil(1:46,874). In Italy, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:759) in the following regions: 1. Campania(1:242) 2. Basilicata(1:298) 3. Piedmont(1:325) 4. Calabria(1:428) 5. Liguria(1:456) 6. Sicily(1:494) In Argentina, the frequency of the surname was higher than national average (1:3,390) in the following provinces:[1] 1. Córdoba Province(1:1,176) 2. Santa Fe Province(1:1,917) 3. San Luis Province(1:2,570) 4. Buenos Aires(1:2,696) 5. Mendoza Province(1:3,009) People Al Giordano, American journalist and political activist Bruno Giordano, Italian footballer Charles Giordano, United States keyboards and accordion player Christian Giordano, Swiss anthropologist Dick Giordano(1932–2010), American comic book artist and editor Daniele Giordano, Italian footballer Fabio Giordano, Italian footballer Filippa Giordano, Italian crossover singer JoAnn Giordano, American textile artist and curator who has exhibited since 1977 Laura Giordano, Italian lyric soprano Lou Giordano, record producer and recording engineer Luca Giordano, 17th-century artist Mark Giordano, Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman Matt Giordano, safety for the Indianapolis Colts of the NFL Matteo Giordano, Italian footballer Michele Giordano, Cardinal Archbishop emeritus of Naples, Italy Paolo Giordano, Italian writer Tyrone Giordano(born 1976), deaf American actor Umberto Giordano(1867–1948), Italian composer William J. Giordano(1919–1993), New York politician From Wikipedia Giordano Links Giordano Link from Ancestry Giordano Link from Forbears Giordano Link from iGenea.  They have a project. Giordano Link from Nobility of Naples Description: The purpose of this project is to have some fun as we try to unravel the history and the interrelationships of the Giordano families. Requirements: A Surname Project traces members of a family that share a common surname. They are of the most interest in cultures where surnames are passed on from father to son like the Y-Chromosome. This project is for males taking a Y-Chromosome DNA (Y-DNA) test. Thus, the individual who tests must be a male who wants to check his direct paternal line (father’s father’s father’s…) with a Y-DNA12, Y-DNA37, Y-DNA67, or Y-DNA111 test and who has one of the surnames listed for the project. Females do not carry their father’s Y-DNA. Females who would like to check their father’s direct paternal line can have a male relative with his surname order a Y-DNA test. Females can also order an mtDNA test for themselves such as the mtDNAPlus test or the mtFullSequence test and participate in an mtDNA project. Both men and women may take our autosomal Family Finder test to discover recent relationships across all family lines. #1 Russo #2 Ferrari #3 Esposito #4 Bianchi #5 Romano #6 Columbo #7 Ricci #8 Marino #9 Greco #10 Bruno #11 Gallo #12 Conti #13 DeLuca # 14 Costa

Number 13 Italian Surname DeLuca I would have not expected DeLuca to be in the top 20.  Although, as you can see there are many variations on the name.  I did go to grammar school with a girl named DeLuca.  So number 13 on the list of most popular surnames — DeLuca Recorded as Delucia, De Lucia, Deluca, Deluce, De Luze, Di Lucia, Lucia, Luze, and possibly others, this is an Italian, and sometimes Spanish, French and Portugese surname, although Roman (Latin) is its ultimate origin. The Romans held both the Italian mainland, as well as the Iberian Peninsula which is now modern Spain and Portugal for several centuries, until eventually like every empire or major company, they lost their way to the good life, or ‘La dolca vita’. In the 5th century a.d. they were swept aside by the arrogant Huns and the Goths from what is now Northern Germany, and in Southern Spain by the Moors from Morocco, until in time these people were also driven out. The name means ‘of Lucia’ of which there are numerous places in Southern Europe. All are named from St Lucia, given as being a young Sicilian maiden who embraced the Christian church, and paid the price being martyrd by the Emperor Diocletian in the 3rd century a.d. Examples of the surname recording include the exotically named Lucia Lucia who married Leonardo lo Preite on May 20th 1626 at Casamassima, Bari, and Georgio di Lucia, who married Agata Macarri at Taranto, on January 6th 1761. © Copyright: Name Origin Research 1980 – 2017 Surname Database Click here to purchase your copy of Farmers and Nobles Join Italian Roots and Genealogy on Facebook Geographical distribution According to the surname distribution data at Forebears, the DeLuca surname is most frequently found in the United States, while the de Luca spelling is much more common in Italy, where it ranks 19th in the nation. WorldNames Public Profileridentifies de Luca as being most common throughout southern Italy, especially in the regions of Calabria and Campania. The DeLuca spelling is also found in Italy, but is much less common. It is found most frequently in Northwest Territories, Canada, as well as the American New England states. Thought.com   DeLuca Links De Luca Link from Ancestry DeLuca Link from Forbears #1 Russo #2 Ferrari #3 Esposito #4 Bianchi #5 Romano #6 Columbo #7 Ricci #8 Marino #9 Greco #10 Bruno #11 Gallo #12 Conti Meanings of Popular Italian Surnames

Dan Zongrone who has renovated two homes in Calabria gives us expert advice on how to start the process, the availability of materials and tools. Also how auctions work and the pitfalls to be aware of before and during the process. Visit Dan’s Facebook Page Cropani nel Cuore Visit Our Shop Podcast Click here to join our group on Facebook Video