Girolamo Alessandro Cappellari Vivaro

Girolamo Alessandro Cappellari Vivaro (born on September 23, 1664 in Vicenza ; died on April 14, 1748 ibid) was an Italian genealogist .

Girolamo Alessandro Cappellari Vivaro was the son of Girolamo Cappellari and Paolina Bonapace. The father had been adopted by a maternal uncle named Giacomo Vivaro and therefore had his last name, which the son continued. The uncle's inheritance ensured a certain prosperity for the family, who owned a linen business and a house on Piazzola delle Erbe. Although Alessandro Cappellari was involved in the parental business, he spent a lot of time studying philosophy , law , literature and ancient history . Eventually he turned to the Middle Ages and devoured manuscripts and books devoted to that era.

After his father's death, although he was not called to do so, he had to run the family business, which resulted in a sharp drop in sales. By 1692 he had reduced the family property by 300 ducats , and by 1700 by a further 100 ducats. Nevertheless, he continued to devote himself mainly to his genealogical studies, which he had now started.

Alessandro Cappellari married Elisabetta Fornasieri from Bassano del Grappa and had two children with her. The son Girolamo died soon after the marriage to Elisabetta Vaghi di Schio. The daughter Leoneda married Benedetto Castelli and had nine children with him. After Castelli's death and Leoneda's remarriage, Alessandro Cappellari was given the task of looking after the grandchildren despite his advanced age. Only two of them, Antonio and Pier Filippo Castelli, were taken into account in Cappellari's will, the rest did not meet his expectations. Pier Filippo Castelli (1724–1770), who soon afterwards, in 1753, published a biography of Gian Giorgio Trissino , inherited Cappelari's manuscripts and books.

Among these was Capellari's most important work, the four-volume manuscript "Il Campidoglio veneto" , which the brothers offered as a gift to Pietro Grimani, the Doge of Venice , immediately after the death of their grandfather . By decision of the Council of Ten , the work was given to the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice , where it is today under the sigla Ms It. Cl. VII 15-18 (8304-8307) is retained . The Castelli brothers were rewarded accordingly for the valuable gift.

In alphabetical order, the work represents the origin, the famous members and the family trees of the most important patrician families of Venice up to around 1745. Even the collector and historian Emmanuele Antonio Cicogna appreciated the value of the work in the 19th century because of the many verifiable possibilities minor and major errors and inaccuracies not particularly. He preferred Marco Barbaro's 16th century genealogies because they relied to a greater extent on authentic, private documents. Above all, he accused Cappellari of attempting to trace numerous family trees back to Roman times. Regardless of this, the work is still an important and, with all caution, frequently used source. There are extracts in printed form for individual families and branches of families, which were mainly published in the 19th century.

There is also an eleven-volume Emporio universale delle famiglie of posthumous works, which includes information on around 16,550 Italian and European families in alphabetical order, without family trees. The manuscript is in the chapter library in Vicenza, in today's episcopal seminary, copies are in the Biblioteca Bertoliana in Vicenza and the library of the Museo civico in Padua .

Other manuscripts, such as a sacred piece written between 1714 and 1715 with the title I trofei del Paradiso, o vero la santità trionfante , are distributed among various libraries in Vicenza and Venice.

Digitized version of the Campidoglio

• Links to Tavola delle famiglie nobili , content

literature

• Gino Benzoni:  Cappellari Vivaro, Girolamo Alessandro. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 18:  Canella – Cappello. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1975.