The House of Carandini (originally Risi) is an old Italian

noble family Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

, whose members occupied many important ecclesiastical and political positions.

History

Records of the family go back at least to the 12th century, when Emperor

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

gave the family the right to bear the coat of arms of the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

; by the 15th century, the Carandinis had risen to political prominence in

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

. The title of Conte (Count) was obtained by a Carandini following the

Battle of Lepanto (1571) The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement that took place on 7 October 1571 when a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of Catholic states (comprising Spain and its Italian territories, several independent Italian states, and the Soverei ...

. Additional titles were obtained later including that of Marchese (Marquis) of Sarzano. One or more members of the family became political fugitives in the 19th century and fled to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

; some of the persons listed below are their descendants. Another family member, Filippo Cardinal Carandini, was Prefect of the

Congregation for the Clergy The Dicastery for the Clergy, formerly named Congregation for the Clergy (; formerly the Sacred Congregation for the Clergy and Sacred Congregation of the Council), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia responsible for overseeing matters regardin ...

and a participant in the 1800 papal conclave.

Notable members of the family

Andrea Carandini Andrea Carandini (born November 3, 1937) is an Italian professor of archaeology specialising in ancient Rome. Among his many excavations is the villa of Settefinestre. Biography The son of Italian diplomat Count Nicolò Carandini (1896–1972 ...

Filippo Carandini Filippo Carandini (6 September 1729 - 28 August 1810) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal. Biography He was born in Pesaro to the aristocratic Carandini family. He was elevated to Cardinal in January 1787. He participated in the Papal Conclave ...

Nicolò Carandini Count Nicolò Carandini (6 December 1896 – 18 March 1972) was a leader of Italian post−World War II liberalism and a champion of European Federalism. He was the first Italian ambassador to Britain after World War II, and the first presi ...

* Marie Carandini *

Matteo Carandini Matteo Carandini (born 1967) is a neuroscientist who studies the visual system. He is currently a professor at University College London, where he co-directs thCortical Processing Laboratorywith Kenneth D Harris. He studies the visual cortex at ...

Ercole Consalvi Ercole Consalvi (8 June 1757 – 24 January 1824) was a deacon and cardinal of the Catholic Church, who served twice as Cardinal Secretary of State for the Papal States and who played a crucial role in the post-Napoleonic reassertion of the le ...

Christopher Lee Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee (27 May 1922 – 7 June 2015) was an English actor and singer. In a long career spanning more than 60 years, Lee often portrayed villains, and appeared as Count Dracula in seven Hammer Horror films, ultimat ...

Rosina Palmer Rosina Martha Hosanah Palmer (; 27 August 1844 – 16 June 1932) was an Australian opera singer. Born in Hobart, she developed a soprano voice early on and accompanied her mother, opera singer Marie Carandini, on tours, singing with her famil ...

References

{{Reflist * Gianna Dotti Messori, ''I Carandini: la storia ei documenti di una famiglia plurisecolare''. No. 144. Aedes muratoriana, 1997 * Roberto Regoli, "Ercole Consalvi, le scelte per la chiesa". Editrice Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 2006 *