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

Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...

(including the

Ionian Islands The Ionian Islands (Modern Greek: , ; Ancient Greek, Katharevousa: , ) are a archipelago, group of islands in the Ionian Sea, west of mainland Greece. They are traditionally called the Heptanese ("Seven Islands"; , ''Heptanēsa'' or , ''Heptanē ...

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

nobility of Italy The Italian nobility (Italian language, 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 Age ...

. 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, Gr ...

families and their

cadet A cadet is a student or trainee within various organisations, primarily in military contexts where individuals undergo training to become commissioned officers. However, several civilian organisations, including civil aviation groups, maritime ...

branches.

History

Venetian ''Libro d'oro''

In the oligarchic

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.

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 of 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 (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

, 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 (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and the decision by a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

to abolish its monarchy, the new

Italian Republic Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

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

constitution of Italy The Constitution of the Italian Republic () was ratified on 22 December 1947 by the Constituent Assembly of Italy, Constituent Assembly, with 453 votes in favour and 62 against, before coming into force on 1 January 1948, one century after the p ...

, so ceased to maintain the '' Consulta Araldica'', 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 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 Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, insofar as their titles had been created by the

Pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

, when he was a sovereign head of state of the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; ; ), officially the State of the Church, were a conglomeration of territories on the Italian peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope from 756 to 1870. They were among the major states of Italy from the 8th c ...

(i.e. until the

Capture of Rome The Capture of Rome () occurred on 20 September 1870, as forces of the Kingdom of Italy took control of the city and of the Papal States. After a plebiscite held on 2 October 1870, Rome was officially made capital of Italy on 3 February 1871, c ...

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

aristocracy Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense Economy, economic, Politics, political, and soc ...

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 and 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 ...

Burke's Peerage Burke's Peerage Limited is a British genealogical publisher, considered an authority on the order of precedence of noble families and information on the lesser nobility of the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1826, when the Anglo-Irish genea ...

). 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, 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 as a nobiliary of the members of local Community Councils ( Zante 1542,

Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...

1572 and

Cephalonia Kefalonia or Cephalonia (), formerly also known as Kefallinia or Kephallonia (), 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 is also a separate regio ...

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

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

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

Republic of Genoa The Republic of Genoa ( ; ; ) was a medieval and early modern Maritime republics, maritime republic from the years 1099 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italy, Italian coast. During the Late Middle Ages, it was a major commercial power in ...

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

References

Libro d'oro
at Collegio Araldico (in Italian). Retrieved 5 November 2010

at Heraldica (in English). Retrieved 11 May 2007

at Regalis (in English. Retrieved 8 July 2007 {{italic title Biographical dictionaries