Fisichella is an Italian

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 ...

family, forming part of the Sicilian nobility. Members of the family include multiple judges and

prelate A prelate () is a high-ranking member of the Christian clergy who is an ordinary or who ranks in precedence with ordinaries. The word derives from the Latin , the past participle of , which means 'carry before', 'be set above or over' or 'pre ...

s, among them a justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Sicily and an archbishop of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

History

, motto = la, VIAM VERITATIS ELEGI
('I have chosen the way of truth') , other_elements = External ornaments for archbishops , earlier_versions = , use = , notes = Inspired by the family arms. The House of Fisichella, originally from the ''

Val di Catania The Province of Catania ( it, Provincia di Catania; scn, Pruvincia di Catania) was a province in the autonomous island region of Sicily in southern Italy. Its capital was the city of Catania. It had an area of and a total population of about 1, ...

'', has long been prominent in the fields of

diplomacy Diplomacy comprises spoken or written communication by representatives of states (such as leaders and diplomats) intended to influence events in the international system.Ronald Peter Barston, ''Modern diplomacy'', Pearson Education, 2006, p. ...

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

, philosophy and

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

. Among the family's forefathers, at the beginning of the 17th century Domenico Fisichella was chaplain at the '' monasterium album'' of Campanarazzu, Misterbianco, and later at the local St. Nicholas Church, while Francesco Fisichella was ambassador of the city of Catania to the

royal court A royal court, often called simply a court when the royal context is clear, is an extended royal household in a monarchy, including all those who regularly attend on a monarch, or another central figure. Hence, the word "court" may also be appl ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

since 1671. In the 18th century, two renowned members of the family were both named Giuseppe Fisichella: the elder was referred to as ''

signore A signoria () was the governing authority in many of the Italian city states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The word signoria comes from ''signore'' , or "lord"; an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government; governing authority; ...

don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

'' around 1718, whereas the younger, namely Giuseppe Maria Fisichella, served as justice of the Supreme Court of the Kingdom of Sicily in the years 1770, 1771, 1772 and 1782. Among his nephews, in the 19th century a namesake was ''giudice circondariale'' – that is commissioner and judge – of Centorbi and

Mascali Mascali ( Sicilian: ''Màscali'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about northeast of Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second ...

, in 1826 and 1830, respectively, while Ignazio Fisichella was Deputy Secretary of the General Prosecution Office 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 Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

at the Catania

Appeal Court A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

, and later

Clerk A clerk is a white-collar worker who conducts general office tasks, or a worker who performs similar sales-related tasks in a retail environment. The responsibilities of clerical workers commonly include record keeping, filing, staffing service ...

to the civil and criminal court of Nicosia. Meanwhile, three members of the family have been prominent in other fields, such as (born 1841), priest, philosopher and jurist,

Domenico Fisichella Domenico Fisichella (born 15 September 1935) is an Italian academic and politician, who served as culture minister in the Berlusconi I Cabinet from 1994 to 1995. Career Fisichella taught political science at Sapienza University of Rome and the L ...

(born 1935), academic and influential politician, minister and later senator of the Italian Republic, and Salvatore Fisichella (born 1943), renowned operatic

tenor A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...

. In the 20th century, two cadet branches branched off from the main line, whose

family seat A family seat or sometimes just called seat is the principal residence of the landed gentry and aristocracy. The residence usually denotes the social, economic, political, or historic connection of the family within a given area. Some families ...

is located in Militello in Val di Catania, moving to Lombardy and

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

, respectively; the first is represented by

Rino Fisichella Salvatore Fisichella (born 25 August 1951), commonly known as Rino Fisichella, is an Italian prelate of the Roman Catholic Church with the rank of archbishop. He is the current Pro-prefect for the Section of New Evangelization of the Dicastery ...

(born 1951), academic, theologian and archbishop of the

, while the second by Giancarlo Fisichella (born 1973), famous athlete.

Onomastics

In popular culture

A mysterious "baron Fisichella" appears several times in

Leonardo Sciascia Leonardo Sciascia (; 8 January 1921 – 20 November 1989) was an Italian writer, novelist, essayist, playwright, and politician. Some of his works have been made into films, including '' Porte Aperte'' (1990; ''Open Doors''), ''Cadaveri Eccellent ...

's historical novel , played in the by .

Notes and references

Notes

References

Bibliography

Heraldic literature

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Non-fiction

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Historical fiction

Chronicle

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External links

* * * {{Subject bar , commons = y , commons-search = House of Fisichella , n = , n-search = , d = y , d-search = Q5352294 , portal1 = Italy , portal2 = Heraldry