Ruffo Family History

My 26th RUFFO  Great Grandfather was Gervasio Ruffo.  He was the Gentleman of Mizzilicar and Cabucas to King Ruggero II of Sicily in 1141.  Find all the RUFFO LINES.

The Ruffo di Calabria^[1]are one of theoldest and most noblefamilies of Italiannobility, already numbered among the seven largest familiesof the Kingdom of Naples^[2].

A descendant of the family is Paola, sixth queen of the Belgians, daughter of Fulco Ruffo of Calabriaand consort of the kingAlbert II of Belgium.

The Ruffo Family history is long and storied.

The first historical information regarding the Ruffo di Calabria family dates back to the year one thousand, in the Chronica Monasterii Casinensisof Leone Ostiense itis in fact read of the already mentioned alliance between the emperor of the Eastand the Ruffo and Giuliani families to recover Calabria and Apulia to the Byzantines ^[13].About a century later there is a Pietro Ruffo, whose birth dates back to 1118, created cardinal by Pope Gelasius II, and there is news of a Gervasio Ruffo, appointed in 1125 strategist of Messina^[14]and raised by Roger II of Sicilyin 1146 to the rank of lord of Mizzillicar and Chabucas ^[15].A probable descendant of the latter, remembered as Ruggero de Gervasio, is named by Federico IIvallectus cameraein 1223 ^[16], in the same period a Serio Ruffo is remembered, great marshal of the kingdom, who took part in the escort of the body of the emperor in Taranto.

More Ruffo Family History — Ruffo di Calabria counts of Catanzaro

The great fortune of the family certainly began with the count of CatanzaroPietro I ^[17][18](m. 1257), who was courtier of the emperor Frederick II and appointed by him giustiziere, grand marshal of the kingdom of Sicily and balio ^{[19 ]}of his son Corrado.Unsubstantiated, if not even false and apt only to diminish the figure, the news contained in the Historia de rebus gestis Frederici II imperatorisof the so –called Pseudo-Jamsillaappear, according to which Peter I was of poor and humble origins ^[20].Appointed vicar in Sicily and Calabria by Corrado IV, he was reconfirmed in these positions by Corradino, but openly lined up against Manfredi hewas deprived of all his possessions and forced into exile, dying murdered by the Hohenstaufenpartisans in Terracina.

The same political parable followed Giordano^[21], nephew of Peter I;also an official of the Kingdom of Sicily under Frederick II, first a castellan and then an imperial blacksmith^[22], later abandoned the Swabians to take the side of Pope Alexander IV, but having fallen prisoner to the Ghibelline side he was first blinded and then executed.

Peter II ^[23](1230-1310), after having found refuge in France with part of the family, sided with Charles I of Anjou andregained the investiture of the county of Catanzaro ^[24]as compensation for having taken Amanteafrom the followers of Corradino di Svevia(1268), later distinguished himself in the defense of Catanzaro (1280-1281) during the war of the Vespers.

Joining the Angevin party gave the various branches of the Ruffo family a great economic power and considerable political weight.The interminable wars of succession that followed, first between Angevins and Durazzeschi and then between Durazzeschi and Aragonese, still saw the Ruffo as protagonists, but divided among the various contenders according to the convenience of the moment.

Exemplary in this sense is the figure of the last count of Catanzaro, Niccolò ^[25]who, as a partisan of the Angiò-Durres, sided with Charles III of Naplesagainst Louis I of Anjou.Appointed in 1384 viceroy of the Calabrian ^[26]by Queen Margheritaand vicar administrator of ecclesiastical assets in Calabria by Pope Urban VI, he obtained in 1390 from Ladislaus I of Naplesalso the crown of Marquis of Crotonealong with many other benefits.In 1399, pardoning him a brief defection alongside Louis II of Anjou, Ladislaus confirmed Niccolò also as Viceroy of Calabria, nevertheless he will again take the parts of the Anjou-Valois byrebelling, but towards the end of 1404, after having barricaded himself in the city of Crotone, will be forced into exile in France and ousted of all his possessions ^[27].Niccolò will return to Calabria only in 1420 together with Luigi III d’Angiòregaining titles and property and being reconfirmed Marquis of Crotone.During the war between the Angevinsand the Aragonese, Niccolò consolidated and expanded his power now to the detriment of the opposing party, now to the detriment of the church, now to the detriment of the Anjou themselves.He died in 1435 without leaving any male heirs, two of his daughters are remembered: Giovannella, who married Antonio Colonna prince of Salerno and nephew of Pope Martin V^[28], and Enrichetta, adventurously married to Antonio Centellescount of Calisano.

Ruffo di Calabria, counts of Montalto and Corigliano

Collateral branch begun with Giordano ^[29]count of Montalto, brother of the aforementioned Niccolò, and continued briefly until his nephew Antonio, count of Coriglianofor part of mother, who had only two daughters: Polissena, married in second marriage to Francesco Sforzaduke of Milan, and Covella^[30], wife of Antonio Marzano duke of Sessa and mother of Marino.

Ruffo di Calabria counts of Sinopoli and princes of Scilla

The Ruffo of Calabria were perpetuated, however in the branch of the lords of Sinopoli^[31]of which he was the progenitor Fulco^[32], also a leading exponent of the Swabian court and reminder of the Sicilian school^[33].His nephew Guglielmo was preferred by Roberto d’Angiòto his older brother and was awarded the title of count on Sinopoli in 1333-1334.

Partisans of the house of Anjou, the Ruffo later took part in the conspiracy of the barons, without keeping a significant part of it, thus being dispossessed by the Aragonese of a good part of their possessions that they regained only with the reduction of the Kingdom of Naples to Spanish viceroyalty.In this period Paolo, the seventh count of Sinopoli, acquired the lordship of Scilla, but it was his successor Fabrizio who was the first to obtain the investiture as prince in 1578.

The successors were also awarded the titles of marquises of Licodia, princes of Palazzolo, dukes of Guardia Lombarda, counts of Nicotera, marquises of Panaghia, as well as minor fiefs and lordships.During the seventeenth century, however, there was an arrest of the impetuous development of the family that had characterized the previous centuries;the interest of the Ruffo in this period seems in fact mainly focused on the management of the Calabrian and Sicilian landed possessions, rather than on the achievement of an effective political power at the court.

In the eighteenth century with the introduction of the land registerand the first attempts to subvert feudalismby Charles of Bourbon, the heritage of the Ruffo will undergo a strong downsizing.At the end of the century, however, there will be the figure of Fulco Giordano Antonio ^[34](1773-1852), councilor of state and foreign affairs minister of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, who as ambassador to the court of Spain treated the marriage of Maria Cristina of Bourbon, daughter of Francis I, with King Ferdinand VII, who awarded him the Order of the Golden Fleeceand named him Duke of Santa Cristinaraising him to the hereditary rank of first-class Grande di Spagna;in 1832 he was also in charge of escorting the princess Maria Cristina of Savoyto Naples who was married to Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies,coming for this decorated collar of the Santissima Annunziata.

Fulco Salvatore ^[35](1837-1875), had no male ancestry, his daughter Eleonora Margherita (1861-1959), already titular, refused ^[36]before marriage (1878 ) in favor of two paternal uncles of a part of the titles maintaining for himself that of the princes of Scilla ^[37]: to Fulco Francesco di Paola ^[38], to whom the firstborn line passed, the noble predicates of Prince of Palazzolo and Marquis of Licodia;to Fulco Beniamino ^[39]those of Duke of Guardia Lombarda and count of Sinopoli.

Subsequently Umberto will marry his cousin Isabella of the Marchesi Torrigiani and of the Princes of Scilla acquiring, maritali nominations, the titles and regaining to the first-born line that of the princes of Scilla ^[40];the two had only one son, Francesco di Paola (1907-1975), who had no male ancestry, so at his death the firstborn line passed to Fabrizio Beniamino ^[41](1922-2005), under whom the family titles that were transmitted by him to his son Fulco ^[42].

Collateral branches

• Ruffo della Scaletta, branch originating from that of Bagnara in the seventeenth century by Antonio Ruffo (1610-1678), princes of the Scaletta, princes of Floresta, barons of Guidomandri, barons of Monaco, Luponaro, San Giorgio, Cucco, Randé and Castellana and of Fegotto, lords of Giampilieri, Molino and Altolia, noble patricians of Messina.
• Ruffo di Bagnara^[43][44]today extinct branch originating from that of Sinopoli at the end of the 15th century by Esaù Ruffo, barons of San Lucido, dukes of Bagnara, dukes of Baranello, princes of Sant’Antimo, princes of Fiumara di Muro , princes of Motta San Giovanni, marquises of Guardia, Neapolitan patricians.
• Ruffo di Castelcicala^[45], now extinct branch originated from that of Bagnara in the seventeenth century by Fabrizio (1648-1720), barons and then princes of Castelcicala, Neapolitan patricians.
• Ruffo de Laricor de La Ric (formerly Roux de Laric), a French branch now extinct originating from that of Sinopoli in the 14th century by Carlo Ruffo ^[46], counts of Laric, marquises of Courbons, barons of Oze, Neapolitan patricians.
• Roux de Lamanon, French branch originated in the XV from that of de Laric, cosignori of Lamanon and Aurons.
• Roux de Beauvezet, a French branch now extinct originated in the 15th by that of de Laric, lords of Beauvezet.
• Ruffo de Bonneval de La Fare(formerly Roux de Bonneval) ^[47], French branch, now Belgian, originated from that of Sinopoli by Ruggero Ruffo ^[48]in the 14th century, lords of Bonneval, marquises de La Fare, Neapolitan patricians.

Gervasio Ruffo’s relation to you: Direct ancestor (28 generations)

Here’s how:

1. Nicholas Victor Sorrentino is your father

2. Maria Luigia Piromallo is the mother of Nicholas Victor Sorrentino

3. Maria Emilia Caracciolo is the mother of Maria Luigia Piromallo

4. Filippo Caracciolo is the father of Maria Emilia Caracciolo

5. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Filippo Caracciolo

6. Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo

7. Prince Luigi Caracciolo is the father of Prince Ambrogio II Caracciolo

8. Ambrogio Caracciolo is the father of Prince Luigi Caracciolo

9. Prince Marino III Caracciolo is the father of Ambrogio Caracciolo

10. Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo is the father of Prince Marino III Caracciolo

11. Marino II Caracciolo is the father of Prince Francesco Marino Caracciolo

12. Roberta Carafa is the mother of Marino II Caracciolo

13. Marzio I Carafa is the father of Roberta Carafa

14. Lelio Carafa is the father of Marzio I Carafa

15. Geromina Carafa is the mother of Lelio Carafa

16. Giovanni Tommaso Carafa is the father of Geromina Carafa

17. Gozzolina San Severino is the mother of Giovanni Tommaso Carafa

18. Girolamo San Severino is the father of Gozzolina San Severino

19. Gozzolina Ruffo is the mother of Girolamo San Severino

20. Niccolú Ruffo is the father of Gozzolina Ruffo

21. Antonello Ruffo is the father of Niccolú Ruffo

22. Carlo Ruffo is the father of Antonello Ruffo

23. Giordano Ruffo is the father of Carlo Ruffo

24. Giordano Ruffo is the father of Giordano Ruffo

25. Pietro Ii Ruffo is the father of Giordano Ruffo

26. Giordano Ruffo is the father of Pietro Ii Ruffo

27. Giovanni Ruffo is the father of Giordano Ruffo

28. Gervasio Ruffo is the father of Giovanni Ruffo