This concise historical presentation is intended not as an exhaustive sociological treatise, but as a general introduction for the layman. It is presumed that the reader has already reviewed Italian Heraldry, Nobility & Genealogy. Because of the highly individual nature of genealogical and heraldic projects, many of these observations are necessarily generalities.

Italian nobiliary practices cannot be compared directly to those of other countries, such as Scotland or Russia. Even within Italy, regional differences must be considered because until circa 1870 this nation did not exist as a politically unified state.

The Italian Republic was founded by popular referendum in 1946. Two years later, the Italian Constitution established that titles of nobility and coats of arms henceforth were not to be recognised officially by the state, although in some cases the predicato (territorial designation) associated with a titled family could be legally attached to a surname. Thus, the Lanza family, princes of Trabia, are no longer addressed in legal documents (passports, etc.) by the title principe (prince), but their full surname is Lanza di Trabia, not simply "Lanza". It is important to observe that the use of aristocratic titles in Italy is no way outlawed, and historical titles are often used socially, with the titles of cavaliere (knight) and dama (dame) recognised in some cases. A consequence of the lack of governmental recognition of titles in Italy is the proliferation of impostors - people who claim, or even bestow, fraudulent or unsurped titles.

While there exist no means to petition for "official" recognition of Italian noble titles or coats of arms, some private organisations, such as those associated with the former ruling dynasties, continue to recognise these.

The greater titles of nobility are Principe (Noble Prince), Duca (Duke), Marchese (Marques), Conte (Count), Visconte (Viscount) and Barone (Baron). The wife or widow of one of these noblemen is styled by the feminine version of her husband's title - Principessa, Duchessa, et al. In former times, the son of a titled noblemen was occasionally addressed by courtesy by his father's title. The minor titles of nobility are Patrizio (Patrician), Nobile (Nobleman) and Cavaliere Ereditario (Hereditary Knight).

The historical evidence of an ancestor's nobiliary title is usually obvious and can be confirmed through juridical investigation because of documents creating or recognising the rank. The former use of certain titles (particularly baron) without authority must be considered in some cases because rural families of untitled nobility were often identified as "baronial" in the absence of fuedal rights or recognition by the crown.

Nobile is the most frequent aristocratic rank in Italy because, in addition to families that were never actually titled, the younger sons (cadets) of titled noblemen were traditionally regarded as nobili. Thus one encounters such usage as, for example, Giuseppe Lanza dei Principe di Trabia (Giuseppe Lanza of the Princes of Trabia). In Addition to those whose untitled nobility was recognised formally, there were familes of rural gentility that were considered by tradition to be of untitled minor nobility - an Italian class analogous to Britain's landed gentry. Establishing the nobiliary status of such families depends upon various factors and is essentially twofold.

Firstly, documentary evidence must indicate that several ancestors in the same line were accorded honorific forms of address (Magnifico, Illustrissimo, don) in civil or church records before the nineteenth century. Such designations were applied rather loosly in centuries past - especially in rural localities, where any literate tradesman might be addressed as "don". While most local officials or wealthy landholders could not claim nobility, the use of such titles does serve to support the possibility of nobility in some cases.

Secondly, associated heraldic evidence must exist. The family must have been attributed a coat of arms that appertained to that family in particular, not to another in the same region which coincidentally bore the same surname. The coat of arms might be found as the engraving on an ancestral residence or the seal in a document. Perhaps it was recorded in a heraldic reference which mentions a proven (and legitimate) ancestor.

Circumstantial evidence is important, but it can be misleading. For example, one might conclude that local residents who share the surname of the local duke are his kin, and therefore nobles. Documentary research, however, might well demonstrate the contrary - for they might descend from the ducal family's servants.

Anecdotes are rarely accurate or demonstrable. A frequent story is that of an ancestor's having been the illegitmate child of a nobleman. Typically, he was born to an unwed mother whose family subsequently sought to salvage her dignity by alleging aristocratic paternity. It is usually impossible to prove this.

In common parlance, heraldry (Italian araldica) refers to the study of coats of arms. Historically, the term referred to the functions of heralds, royal court officers responsible for maintaining records of coats of arms and titles of nobility. Although such officers are still attached to royal households in the United Kingdom and Spain, the Italian monarchy was abolished in 1946. Titles of nobility and coats of arms are not recognized by the government of the Italian government of the Italian Republic, but neither is their use illegal. A few private organizations in Italy recognize nobiliary titles, the Corpo della Nobilta Italiana and the Sovereign Military Order of Malta being the best known today. (such recognition requires extensive genealogical proof of patrilineal nobility.)

In the middle of the twelfth century, during the Norman rule of much of Italy, coats of arms developed as distinctive insigna painted on the shields of knights and other nobleman. In combat, friend and foe could identify the fully armored knight, whose face was concealed by a helmet, according to the colorful design on his decorated shield. The same design appeared on his surcoat - hence the term "coat of arms." With time, the right to use certain (blazons), as well as feudal titles (i.e. count, baron, etc.), passed from father to son. Since these insigna and titles are incorporeal property of particular families, it is oblivious that unrelated families which by mere coincidence share their surnames (whether Ferrar, Rosso, Smith or Jones) cannot claim these coats of arms or titles of nobility as their own. To do so would like Mr. Johnson of Wales claiming the estate of the late Mr. Johnson of New York simply because he happens to have the same surname.

The hereditary nature of coats of arms and titles of nobility is readily apparent if their historical development is considered. So closely linked is heraldry to genealogy that the Italian word for coat of arms, stemma is the Latin for family tree. In most countries, including Italy, a coat of arms is an indication of nobility (i.e. hereditary aristocracy). Genealogical research is the only means of demonstrating this.

Unfortunately, there exist in Italy and elsewhere various firms, some of which conduct genealogical research, that have deceived thousands of clients into believing themselves to be in genuine possession of coats of arms or even titles of nobility. To bolster the credibility of such fraud, these agencies , including two well known genealogical institutes in Florence, cite historical sources and sometimes attach familial lineages to their wares. Replete with ornate seals, these seemingly "official" documents provide the customer with little more than an expensive fantasy. The majority of Italians who believe themselves entitled to coats of arms are victims of such fraud. In many cases, they are the children or grandchildren of the deceived, since some vendors of fraudulent heraldry have been in business for generations!

Some family historians appropriate for themselves (or their ancestors) coats of arms or aristocratic lineages drawn from references discovered from public libraries. The researcher probably shares no more than a surname with the famous family whose history he has claimed. Thousands of ordinary familes coincidentally bear such famous surnames as Medici, Este, Grimaldi, Visconti, and Savoia, having no kinship whatsoever to the ancient dynasties which also bear these names.

Onomatology the study of proper name origins, must be approached with caution. Any native speaker of Italian knows that Ferraro derives from the word for blacksmith, and that Rosso meant redhead; the origins of toponymic names (Veneziano, Calabrese, Milano) seem equally obvisious. However, the origin of a less frequent may depend greatly upon the dialect of the region in which the family originated. In other words, the same surname might have a particular derivation in Sicily, but another root in Piedmont. Unless the researcher knows the regional origin of the family, he might attribute the Piedmontese etymology to the Sicilian surname, or vice versa. Because Piedmontese is as distinct from Sicilian as Romanian is from French, onomatologies can vary considerably. While onomastic research is more likely to be accurate when the family's region of origin is known, most firms conduct such research without this knowledge. Furthermore, onomatologies attributed to certain surnames by some authors are flawed.

Onomastic conclusions are often flawed where patronymic surnames are concerned. The surname Di Cesere for example, derives from the acient Latin root Caesar, but this etymology has little to do with the familial use of this name in Italy today. In actuality, the Italian families who bear this surname descend from medieval ancestors who bore Cesare as a given name, having no descent from the Julian emperors of ancient Rome. By way of analogy, not every Frenchman named Louis descends form the Bourbon kings of France.

The accuracy of heraldic, nobiliary and onomastic knowledge depends upon genealogy; objective interpretation of these topics can spell the difference between real family history and fanciful family folklore.