Imperiali (noble family)

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Coat of arms of the House of Imperiali

Imperiali or Imperiale is the name of an Italian noble family that is still flourishing today and belongs to the high nobility .

The family comes from Genoa , where they appear in the 12th century under the name Tartaro and for a long time belonged to the leading families of the Republic of Genoa , where they provided four doges. In the 17th and 18th centuries it acquired large estates in the Kingdom of Naples , especially on the Salento peninsula , the "heel" of the Italian "boot", and finally relocated its headquarters to Naples .

history

It is believed that the first mentioned ancestor, Giovanni il Tartaro , the Tatar , was a trader from one of the Genoese settlements along the Black Sea coast, from Kaffa in the Crimea or Tana at the mouth of the Don, who came to Genoa around 1100. As recently as the 12th century, his descendants rose to be among the leading figures of the Republic of Genoa : Ospinello Tartaro was envoy in 1188 at the peace negotiations with rival Pisa , his brother Opicino envoy at the alliance negotiations with Thomas I of Savoy in Asti.

Family coat of arms

In 1302 Lanfranco Tartaro led a pilgrimage of Genoese to the Holy Land as an admiral. In the 13th and 14th centuries, the family distinguished themselves in the battles against the Saracens and in 1378 acquired property in Corsica . For services rendered, probably of an economic nature, the Tartaro (together with the Mangiavacca , Pignatari and Delle Vigne families ) received permission from the Byzantine emperor Andronikos II to call themselves “Imperiale” and in their coat of arms the imperial eagle with its head turned to the left as a token of the privilege of taking a seat on the emperor's right. In 1528 the House of Imperiale was one of the 28 families from which the government of the Republic of Genoa was recruited. Between 1617 and 1713 they provided four doges . Branches of the family also found their way into the nobility of Milan, Vicenza and Naples, where they were accepted into the patriciate of the city in 1743.

Battle of Lepanto (1571)

Davide Imperiale (1540-1612), son of Andrea Imperiale and Perinetta Spinola di San Luca, distinguished himself in 1571 as Genoese galley captain in the naval battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Empire by colliding his galley with an approaching Turkish galley to repel their attack on the ship of the admiral of the papal fleet, Marcantonio Colonna . After his victory in 1572 , Philip II of Spain gave Davide Imperiale the great fiefdom in Oria (Apulia) , combined with the title of margrave, and accepted him among the grandees of Spain. In 1575 Davide bought the neighboring Francavilla Fontana and later Casalnuovo (today Manduria ) and in 1608 became Marchese di Latiano . He died in Genoa in 1612.

His descendants were elevated to princes of Francavilla in 1639 . They steadily expanded their southern Italian property, among other things with the income from the salt pans on the coast of Apulia, for example in 1661 through the acquisition of the castle and town of Massafra , in 1666 Avetrana , in 1715 even more places, and from 1717 built a large palace in Manduria (which the Imperiali, after moving to Naples, sold in 1827 to the Filotico family, who still live there today). In the 18th century the family acquired the palace in Villa Castelli and in the 19th century the palace in Salza Irpina .

Michele Imperiali (1673-1738) married Maria Delfina de Simiane (1670-1725) from an important Provencal princely family, whereby part of the legacy of their family branch, including the title Prince of Montafia , Marchese di Pianezza in 1725 fell to the Imperiali. From the Capriglia they inherited the titles Marchese di Dego, di Cagna, di Giusvallo and di Piana nel Monferrato.

Family branches

Porzia Imperiale and her daughter (by Anthonis van Dyck , ca.1628)
  • Imperiale di Sant'Angelo : Gian Vincenzo Imperiale from Genoa acquired Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi in 1631 , his descendants were elevated to princes of Sant'Angelo in 1718 . Prince Placido Imperiale founded the village of Poggio Imperiale in 1759 .
  • Imperiali di Francavilla : Michele Imperiali (1623–1664), 4th Marchese di Oria, was raised in 1639 as the first prince of Francavilla . The castle there with its art collection is evidence of the family's patronage. The line died out in 1782 and was inherited by the younger line of the Marchesi di Latiano.
  • Imperiali di Latiano : Became Marchese di Latiano in 1608 ; After Marchese Guglielmo's death in 1909, the Palazzo Imperiali in Latiano, which can be visited today, was sold to the community. However, a younger line of the Latiano branch inherited the title of Prince of Francavilla ; after the death of Donna Giovanna Imperiali (1814-1903), this passed to the family of her husband, Don Giuseppe Caracciolo dei principi di Castagneto. Her cousin Don Vincenzo Imperiali married the Duchess Irene dell'Abbadessa in 1843, her son Don Emanuele (1845–1933) was made Marchese in 1902 and Duke in 1926. The family seat is the Villa Imperiali near Naples. The current head of the family is his great-grandson Don Luciano, Duca e Marchese Imperiali (* Naples 1927).

Known family members

Francesco Maria Imperiale (1653–1736), Doge of Genoa and King of Corsica (1711–1713)
  • Davide Imperiale (1540–1612), Admiral, 1st Marchese of Oria
  • Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiale (1582–1648), Genoese politician, writer and art collector
  • Giovanni Giacomo Imperiale Tartaro (1554–1622), Doge of Genoa (1617–1619)
  • Lorenzo Imperiali (1612–1673), cardinal
  • Michele Imperiali (1623–1664), 1st Prince of Francavilla, 4th Marchese di Oria
  • Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1651–1737), Cardinal of the Curia
  • Francesco Maria Imperiale Lercari (1629–1712), Doge of Genoa (1683–1685)
  • Ambrogio Imperiale (1649–1729), Doge of Genoa (1719–1721)
  • Francesco Maria Imperiale (1653–1736), Doge of Genoa (1711–1713)
  • Cosimo Imperiali (1685–1764), cardinal
  • Michele Imperiali (1719–1782), 4th Prince of Francavilla, royal Neapolitan steward, art collector (Casanova, Hackert, Goethe and others visited his collection in the Palazzo Cellammare-Francavilla in Naples)
  • Marchese Guglielmo Imperiali di Francavilla (1858–1944), diplomat (envoy to the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 ), senator

literature

  • Gian Domenico Oltrona Visconti: Imperialis Familia. Piacenza 1999.

Web links

Giovanni Vincenzo Imperiali and his family, 1642
Commons : House of Imperiali  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files