Antonio de Noli (born 1415 or possibly 1419) was a 15th-century Genoese nobleman and navigator, and the first governor of the earliest European overseas colony in Subsaharan Africa. He discovered some of the

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

islands on behalf of

Henry the Navigator Princy Henry of Portugal, Duke of Viseu ( Portuguese: ''Infante Dom Henrique''; 4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator (), was a Portuguese prince and a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese ...

and was made the first Governor of Cape Verde by King Afonso V. In most history or geographic books, including ancient chronicles, or encyclopedias, he is referred as ''Antonio de Noli''. In

Italy 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 ...

, he is known also as ''Antonio da Noli'' or sometimes as ''Antoniotto Usodimare''.

Biography

Antonio de Noli was born to a patrician family in

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

, Italy, as referred in ancient sources of the epoch; e.g. Portuguese king's historian

João de Barros João de Barros (; 1496 – 20 October 1570), nicknamed the "Portuguese Livy", is one of the first great Portuguese historians, most famous for his (''Decades of Asia''), a history of the Portuguese in India, Asia, and southeast Africa. Early y ...

stated already in 1552 that Antonio Noli was born in Genoa, and "of noble blood". Modern historians and researches also specify Antonio Noli as ''Genovese'' or ''Genoese'', e.g. Dumoriez (1762), Thomas (1860), Hamilton (1975), Diffie and Winius (1977), Irwin and Wilson (1999). It has also been put forward that Antonio de Noli would have instead born in Noli (

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

)

. After he was exiled from Genoa amid political disputes compromising main families Fregoso and Adorno, Antonio de Noli (Navy captain, and cartography expert) sailed to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

in command of a small expedition of three vessels and with his brother Bartholomew (a Genoa lawyer) and nephew Raphael. In Portugal, de Noli became engaged in Ultramar explorations by

. From 1462 to 1496, he founded and then was Captain of Ribeira Grande (modern-day

Cidade Velha Cidade Velha (, Portuguese for "old city", also: ''Santiago de Cabo Verde'') is a citySantiago Island. The de Noli family is believed to have its ancient roots in "the small city and Castle of Noli". By the 14th century, there were two main branches of the Noli family in Northern Italy sharing a pre-medieval origin in the ancient territory of Noli (Savona province). One branch was established in

Liguria Liguria (; ; , ) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is roughly coextensive with ...

, and the other in

Novara Novara (; Novarese Lombard, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont (Italy), Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous ...

Piedmont Piedmont ( ; ; ) is one of the 20 regions of Italy, located in the northwest Italy, Northwest of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the ...

, where the Noli ("famiglia di signore") inhabited the Castle of Cameriano by the beginning of the 15th century. It is also recorded that members of the Noli family established in Genoa participated in government already by the 13th century, i.e. as "Consigliere della Signoria" in 1261. In 1382, Giacomo de Noli, ancestor of Captain Antonio de Noli, was appointed one member of the Twelve-Elderly Council of Genoa ("XII-Anziani del Comune") under the lead of Duke Nicolas de Guarco. When Nicolas de Guarco took over the rule of Genoa after the Fregoso, in 1378, he had "appointed in positions of trust the noblemen which have been neglected in the previous administrations", and thus also appointed the Fieschi. The participation of the de Noli in the Guarco's ruling of Genoa in alliance with the Fieschi would have, years afterwards, dramatic consequences for Antonio de Noli and his brother Bartholomew. Those prior political associations of the de Noli in Genoa provide a helpful background in explaining both their forced departure to exile in Portugal in 1447, and also the circumstances around the later repatriation of their descendants some decades after, first in Cesena and finally anew in homeland Genoa.

Discoveries

Old history records attribute to Antonio de Noli the discovery of Cape Verde Islands, supposedly "the ancient Hesperides of Pliny and Ptolemy". This according to a ''carta regia'' (royal letter) of 19 September 1462. It is uncertain which of the Cape Verde Islands were discovered by Antonio de Noli. Some of the islands are mentioned in a letter of donation dated 3 December 1460; the rest in the above-mentioned from 19 September 1462. Noli has claim to discovering the first set of islands, while the second were possibly found by

Diogo Gomes Diogo Gomes () was a Portuguese navigator, explorer and writer. Diogo Gomes was a servant and explorer of Portuguese prince, Henry the Navigator. His memoirs were dictated late in his life to Martin Behaim. They are an invaluable (if sometimes ...

. However, the events in question are poorly recorded in documents from the time, a reasonable alternative would be that some or all of these second set of islands were discovered by Diogo Dias, Diogo Afonso and Alvise Cadamosto. The official royal letter of 29 October 1462 states that it was Diogo Afonso, the king's scribe, who had discovered the other (last) seven islands that were mentioned in the royal letter of 19 September 1462. The 19 September 1462 letter grants all the islands of Cape Verde to Dom Fernando and the other seven islands are designated but the discoverer is not named. In this letter, Antonio de Noli's name is given as the discoverer of the first five islands, being also the first time he is mentioned by name as the discoverer. The letter of 3 December 1460 was a royal grant to Infante Ferdinand the Saint Prince after the demise of his brother Henry the Navigator in 1460.

Descendants

Governor Antonio de Noli had one daughter (Dona Branca de Aguiar, who married the Portuguese nobleman Dom Jorge Correia de Sousa, ''fidalgo da casa real'') and one son, who is mentioned to have accompanied him during the early exploration years in mainland Africa. During the occupation of Cape Verde Islands by Castile (a main base of modern

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) during the Portuguese-Castilian war of 1475–1479, the Italian Antonio de Noli remained governor in spite of his titles had been given to him by the Portuguese. In the aftermath of the Treaty of Alcáçovas in 1479 and the reestablishment of Portuguese rule, the governorship of the Islands went instead to Noli's daughter Branca and her Portuguese spouse. Thereafter, no records of the whereabouts on Antonio Noli – including his demise or location of his son and descendants, or his fortune (as well as in the case of his Genoa brother Bartholomew or nephew Raphael) – have been found in Portugal, Cape Verde, or Spain. In 1497, the Noli were still banned from returning to Italy via Genoa for political reasons. In 2008, several manuscripts indicating the presence of the de Noli family in Cesena by the end of 1400 and not earlier, was found at the Biblioteca Malatestiana in

Cesena Cesena (; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; and - with Forlì - is the capital of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. Served by Autostrada A14 (Italy), Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine M ...

, Italy. Among the Malatestiana Library manuscripts, two separate documents depicting the coat of arms of the Noli family were also found. In one of these manuscripts, "Famiglia Noli ''oriunda''" was written under the Noli coat of arms. The reference to "oriunda" in this context means "not from Cesena", thus "coming from an outer territory". The first entry of the de Noli in the Cesena manuscripts refers to "Simone ''de Antonio Noli'' Biondi", which indicates, according to naming praxis at the time, that Antonio Noli was his father. Later, and with the name Simone ''de Noli'' Biondi, he is mentioned in another manuscript as a member of the Cesena Council (''Consiglio di Cesena'') in 1505. The same position was held in later years by two other de Noli descendants, Antonio Noli of ''Tregga rotta'' in 1552 and ''Antonio de Noli'' Biondi in 1556. This Antonio de Noli ceased to be a member of the Cesena Council in 1558 and afterwards the family de Noli was reported in a Malatestiana manuscript as "extinct" in Cesena. However, a few years later, descendants of an Antonio de Noli appeared again, living in Northern Genoa (Valleregia, Serra Ricco). The first register of the de Noli in the Family book of Valleregia Parish of the period took place in 1586. The entries show the names of Antonio de Noli, Bartholomew, Simone, Raphael, and others known names used already in the previous generation of navigator Antonio de Noli and his descendants. The descendants of the de Noli family established anew in the hamlet of Noli in Northern Genoa (''La frazione di Noli al comune di Serra Ricco''). Like most of the de Noli families with Ligurian ancestry, the coat of arms of the family of Antonio de Noli and his descendants carries the red and white colours of the ancient cities of Noli and Genoa.

Legacy

During

World War II 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 ...

, an Italian destroyer was named ''Antonio da Noli''. It sank after striking a mine off the coast of

Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...

on 9 September 1943, the day after the Italian surrender to the Allies (see Navigatori class destroyer).

References and notes

"Antonio de Noli and the Beginning of the New World Discoveries" (2013), Ed. Prof. Marcello Ferrada de Noli, Libertarian Books Europe, ISBN 978-91-981615-0-2

"Cape Verde" at worldstatesmen.org

"Events of 1943" at comandosupremo.com

"De Noli, The Italian Bond", Prof M. Ferrada de Noli {{DEFAULTSORT:Noli, Antonio 1410s births 1490s deaths 15th-century explorers of Africa Italian explorers of Africa 15th-century Italian explorers 15th-century Genoese people Maritime history of Portugal Colonial heads of Cape Verde Portuguese people of Italian descent