The Caracciolo family goes back to 900 AD in Naples Italy.  The family eventually split into three lines.  Caracciolo Rossi, Caracciolo del Sole and Caracciolo Pisquizi.  My ancestors are from Caracciolo Rossi and specifically Caracciolo di Torchiarolo.  The family boasts a long line of royalty including Kings and Queens of most major European countries.  In addition, there are over 20 Catholic Saints and three popes.  I have traced my ancestors back to Charlemagne and beyond, although the further back you go records are less reliable.  This link will bring you to the entire list of Caracciolo lineage.

I found this family by accident.  I was very young when my grandmother passed away, and while I saw her often, I never really spoke with her that much about her life in Italy.  Other then knowing that my great grandfather had noble roots, no one spoke about my grandmother’s paternal family.  As it turned out, when I found the link above, i asked an older cousin, if she ever heard that name.  She confirmed that Emilia Caracciolo was indeed our great grandmother.

This is when the fun really began.  Because this family was so well known I was able to find excellent documentation going back hundreds of years.