The ''Libro d'Oro'' (English: ''The Golden Book''), originally published between 1315 and 1797, is the formal directory of nobles in the

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice ( vec, Repùblega de Venèsia) or Venetian Republic ( vec, Repùblega Vèneta, links=no), traditionally known as La Serenissima ( en, Most Serene Republic of Venice, italics=yes; vec, Serenìsima Repùblega de Venèsia, ...

(including the Ionian Islands). It has been resurrected as the ''Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana'' (English: ''The Golden Book of Italian Nobility''), a privately published directory of the

nobility of Italy The nobility of Italy (Italian: ''Nobiltà italiana'') comprised individuals and their families of the Italian Peninsula, and the islands linked with it, recognized by the sovereigns of the Italian city-states since the Middle Ages, and by the ki ...

. The book lists some of Italy's

noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

families and their

cadet A cadet is an officer trainee or candidate. The term is frequently used to refer to those training to become an officer in the military, often a person who is a junior trainee. Its meaning may vary between countries which can include youths in ...

branches.

History

Venetian ''Libro d'oro''

In the

oligarchic Oligarchy (; ) is a conceptual form of power structure in which power rests with a small number of people. These people may or may not be distinguished by one or several characteristics, such as nobility, fame, wealth, education, or corporate, r ...

the series of restrictions to eligibility for membership in the Great Council that began in 1297 with the decreed Serrata del Maggior Consiglio, or closing of the Great Council, resulted in 1315 in the compiling of a directory of members of eligible families, the ''Libro d'Oro'' or "Golden Book". The book was permanently closed in 1797, with the

fall of the Venetian Republic The fall of the Republic of Venice was a series of events that culminated on 12 May 1797 in the dissolution and dismemberment of the Republic of Venice at the hands of Napoleon Bonaparte and Habsburg Austria. In 1796, the young general Napoleon ...

19th century

In 1896 the ''Libro d'oro'' was founded. Its members were families who had obtained decrees granting, renewing or confirming a title of nobility by the king or royal decrees or ministerial recognition of a noble title. It was intended to avoid abuses and usurpations in the maintenance of existing titles in the pre-unification states and was responsible for keeping a "record of noble titles" in which membership was compulsory for the public use the titles. In 1889 a list of families who had obtained decrees granting or recognition of titles of nobility after the unification of Italy was drawn up, as were 14 regional lists, where families were already recorded in the official lists of states pre-unification. It was initially an official register kept in the State Central State in Rome compiled by the heraldry consultants of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

, a government body established in 1869 at the Ministry of the Interior.

Early 20th century

First published in its current form in 1910, it includes some 2,500 families, and may not be considered exhaustive. Included are those listed in the earlier register of the '' Libro d’Oro della Consulta Araldica del Regno d’Italia'' and the later '' Elenchi Ufficiali Nobiliari'' of 1921 and of 1933. In 1921 it was decreed as the “Official list of noble and titled families of the Kingdom of Italy". The list included all family members already in the regional registers, but it marked with an asterisk those who had obtained title by royal or ministerial decree. In 1933 a second '"Official List of the Italian nobility" was decreed, to which was attached a list of requirements to establish nobility. Those enrolled in the Italian Official lists of nobility (1921–1933 and SUPL. 1934–36) had three years to provide documentation for inclusion in the Golden Book of 1933, so this is much shorter than the 1921 edition.

After the Second World War

Following the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the decision by a

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a direct vote by the electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a representative. This may result in the adoption of a ...

to abolish its monarchy, the new

Italian Republic Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

officially ended its recognition of titles and hereditary honours in its new

constitution of Italy The Constitution of the Italian Republic ( it, Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana) was enacted by the Constituent Assembly on 22 December 1947, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against. The text, which has since been amended sixteen times, ...

, so ceased to maintain the ''

Consulta Araldica The ''Consulta Araldica'' ( en, College of Arms) was a college instituted by royal decree on 10 October 1869 to advise the Italian government on noble titles, coats of arms and related matters. It was a department of the Ministry of the Interior, co ...

'', an official government body regulating the nobility which had been a department of the Ministry of the Interior. No titles are now recognized. Only those families bearing titles before 28 October 1922 (i.e. before the rise to power of Fascism) were permitted to use

predicates Predicate or predication may refer to: * Predicate (grammar), in linguistics * Predication (philosophy) * several closely related uses in mathematics and formal logic: **Predicate (mathematical logic) **Propositional function **Finitary relation, ...

of such titles as a part of their names. These laws did not apply to the

Papal nobility The papal nobility are the aristocracy of the Holy See, composed of persons holding titles bestowed by the Pope. From the Middle Ages into the nineteenth century, the papacy held direct temporal power in the Papal States, and many titles of papal ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, insofar as their titles had been created by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

, when he was a sovereign head of state of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

(i.e. until the

Capture of Rome The Capture of Rome ( it, Presa di Roma) on 20 September 1870 was the final event of the unification of Italy (''Risorgimento''), marking both the final defeat of the Papal States under Pope Pius IX and the unification of the Italian Peninsula ...

on 20 September 1870). After a period of uncertainty, the Italian

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

continued to use their titles in the same way as they had in previous centuries. This behaviour was cemented by the continued publication of ''Il Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana'', published as much to prevent self-styled aristocrats from social climbing as to list the established nobility.

Current status

The ''Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana'' ("Golden Book of the Italian Nobility") is regularly published by the Collegio Araldico of Rome. It should not be confused with a

social register The ''Social Register'' is a semi-annual publication in the United States that indexes the members of American high society. First published in the 1880s by newspaper columnist Louis Keller, it was later acquired by Malcolm Forbes. Since 2014, ...

- wealth, status and social contacts are of no consideration on the decision as to whether a person may be included in the book, the only consideration is the blood or marital relationship to the head of a noble family. Nor is it a peerage reference such as those published in Great Britain (e.g.,

Debrett's Peerage & Baronetage Debrett's () is a British professional coaching company, publisher and authority on etiquette and behaviour, founded in 1769 with the publication of the first edition of ''The New Peerage''. The company takes its name from its founder, John Deb ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher founded in 1826, when the Irish genealogist John Burke began releasing books devoted to the ancestry and heraldry of the peerage, baronetage, knightage and landed gentry of Great Br ...

). The currently published ''Libro d'Oro'' is not an official publication of the Italian state, which currently does not have a civic office to recognise titles of nobility or personal coats of arms. The most recent (25th) edition of ''Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà Italiana'' was published in 2014 http://www.collegioaraldicoromano.it/libro-d-oro It is structured in volumes divided into two series: * Golden Book of the Italian nobility, old series in 11 volumes * Golden Book of the Italian nobility, new series, in 30 volumes

States and cities

In addition to the ''Libro d'oro'' of Venice, such books had existed in many of the Italian states and cities before the unification of Italy. For example, the ''Libro d'Oro'' of

Murano Murano is a series of islands linked by bridges in the Venetian Lagoon, northern Italy. It lies about north of Venice and measures about across with a population of just over 5,000 (2004 figures). It is famous for its glass making. It was on ...

, the glass-making island in the Venetian Lagoon, was instituted in 1602, and from 1605 the heads of the Council of Ten granted the title ''cittadino di Murano'' to those heads of families born on the island or resident there for at least twenty-five years. A ''Libro d'Oro'' was also compiled on each of the

Venetian Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands were an overseas possession of the Republic of Venice from the mid-14th century until the late 18th century. The conquest of the islands took place gradually. The first to be acquired was Cythera and the neighboring islet ...

as a nobiliary of the members of local Community Councils (

Zante Zakynthos (also spelled Zakinthos; el, Ζάκυνθος, Zákynthos ; it, Zacinto ) or Zante (, , ; el, Τζάντε, Tzánte ; from the Venetian form) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the third largest of the Ionian Islands. Za ...

1542,

Corfu Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The isl ...

1572 and

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia ( el, Κεφαλονιά), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallenia (), is the largest of the Ionian Islands in western Greece and the 6th largest island in Greece after Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Rhodes and Chios. It i ...

1593). After the Ionian Islands were conquered and annexed by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

in 1797, the Libro d'Oro was ceremoniously burned. In the reformed

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( lij, Repúbrica de Zêna ; it, Repubblica di Genova; la, Res Publica Ianuensis) was a medieval and early modern maritime republic from the 11th century to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast. During the Lat ...

of 1576 the Genoese ''Libro d'Oro'', which had been closed in 1528, was reopened to admit new blood. By extension, a ''Libro d'Oro'' is a by-name for any nobiliary directory, as when Al. N. Oikonomides refers to "the recently published 'libro d'oro' of the wealthy ancient Athenians (J.K. Davies, ''Athenian Propertied Families 600-200 B.C.'' (Oxford 1971)".Al. N. Oikonomides, "Aristoteles, the Son of Opsiades and Polystrate" ''The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal'' 5 (1977:41-42) p.

Notes

{{Reflist

References

retrieved 5 November 2010
Heraldry in Italy
retrieved 11 May 2007

retrieved 8 July 2007 Italian nobility, Biographical dictionaries