Italian Heritage

Italian Heritage

Come to Italy to get in touch with your Italian roots.

When we hear patently Italian surnames like Sinatra and DiMaggio we do not think of rolling Tuscan hills but instead of great American heroes. They, like each American, are a part of the ethnic "fondue" that so defines our country. But sometimes our country's cultural layers manifest themselves as something more like a salad: incorporated yet individual. So didn't Frank and Joe's Italian ancestry make them unique? They, like the millions of Italian-Americans who make frequent pilgrimages back to the motherland, were American, but most certainly proud of their fiery Italian blood.

Even if your last name is not Tagliabue or Cipriani, you will find that both Italian and Italian-American culture are so powerful that we can all claim a kind of Italian birthright. When we were kids, where else would we have a birthday party but at a pizzeria? What is one of the most iconic scenes from a Walt Disney cartoon if not The Lady and the Tramp feasting on spaghetti and meatballs? Which building moves our imagination more than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and who represents true female beauty better than our favorite Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis?

Indeed, Italy so permeates American culture that some of our most cherished cowboy movies were made by Italians (spaghetti westerns), not to mention the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles bearing the names Leonardo, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Raphael. And really, whose dream sports car is not either a Ferrari or a Lamborghini?

If Italian blood is pumping through your veins, while touring the Sistine Chapel and Uffizi Gallery, you will find that your ancestors gave birth to the highest of high cultures, and that your brethren who still live in Italy are among the most charming and vivacious peoples on the globe. But if not, perhaps it was said best by the great Florentine poet Dante who wrote that it does not matter where or into which family you are born, if you truly want to, you can graft yourself onto an already flourishing vine, in this case, Italy!

Italy's most common surnames and where they are found:

• Rossi - Hugely popular from Naples up to the Alps
• Russo - Milan, Naples and Sicily
• Ferrari - North of Florence
• Esposito - Very Neapolitan!
• Bianchi - Rome, Florence & Milan areas
• Romano - Rome (obviously), Sicily and quite a few found in Puglia region
• Colombo - Milan and, of course, Genoa!
• Ricci - Naples to the Alps
• Marino - Naples down to Sicily
• Greco - Where is Italy closest to Greece? Puglia!
• Bruno - Both Milan and southern Italy
• Gallo - Both Milan and southern Italy
• Conti - From Rome up to Milan
• De Luca - Rome and Naples
• Costa - North of Florence
• Giordano - Naples and Milan
• Mancini - Naples, Rome and Florence areas
• Rizzo - The south and Sicily
• Lombardi - Naples and Milan
• Moretti - Milan and Central Italy