The family Traina in Belmonte Mezzagno

 In this post I want to deepen the history of the Traina family, focusing in particular on the branch moved to Belmonte Mezzagno.

This family lived very clearly in the Aragonese regiment in Palermo, where it often enjoyed the burden of Senator of the same City, as seen in the Index of the Praetors, Jurors, and Capitani of it City. Its origin was very ancient with the dominion of the City of Troina (Traina in sicilian lanuage), from which it took the surname, albeit with variations, at the time of the Norman Kings, however it was reduced to a scion in the same City of Palermo, which formed Doctors, and other virtuosi gentlemen. In 1599 Arrigo Traina founded the barony of the Falconer and of the Turricula or Turrecta. His son, Rev. Don Francesco, later Bishop of Agrigento, inherited his son, and his brother Giuseppe Antonio, from whom his daughter Rosalia inherited her, who at his wedding offered her as a dowry to Giulio Tomasi-Caro, from Charles II, in 1667, awarded the title of Prince of Lampedusa and Marquis of the Turrecta.

doc. 2

The first Traina he set foot in the fief of the Menzagno was Vincenzo Traina around 1748, he

Menzagno drafted in 1750 (see document 3). He sees him as the inhabitant of the fief with the original family but with three other daughters, Giuseppa (already born in 1738 and 1744 but absent in the Misilmeri document) and Caterina; they were joined by two other sons, Giovanni Battista and Angela.

Vincenzo was born in Misilmeri da Damiano and Angela Battaglia in 1722. The certainty of the date comes from the comparison of a document of 1747 (see doc.2) that sees him qualifying by Misilmeri with his wife Francesca Ventimiglia, and the first two sons: Damiano of 8 years and Benedict of 3; with the census of the feud of the

In summary, Vincenzo Traina was born in 1722, married Francesca Ventimiglia and had 7 children: Caterina in 1738; Damiano in 1739; Joseph in 1744; Benedict in 1745; John the Baptist in 1750; Giuseppa in 1753 and Angela in 1767.

Caterina married Dionisio D'Agostino, we are sure of three children: Benedict; Giuseppe and Caterina.

Damiano married Margherita Salerno and they had five sons: Vincenzo; Rocco; Maria; Domenico (my ancestor) and Ninfa.

doc. 3

Giuseppe married Vincenza Benigno and they had six sons: Vincenzo; Francesca; Angela; Giovanna; Giuseppa and Sebastiana.

Benedict married Giuseppa Martorana and they had five sons: Giorgio; Sigismonda; Rosalia; Giovanna and Francesca.

Giovanni Battista married Angela Lo Coco and they had five sons: Vincenzo; Gaetano; Giuseppe; Tommaso and Giovanni.

Giuseppa married Agostino Schiavo, of them we have certainty of two daughters: Giuseppa and Rosa.

Angela married Giuseppe Ribaudo, of them we are certain of a daughter: Giuseppa.

The Traina family of Belmonte Mezzagno derives from their descendants.

Spera, Nobilty

Noble family of Arcevia (Ancona) oriunda di Montefoglio (Pesaro) and of which we have news from the sixteenth century.

He recognizes as his progenitor Pier Luigio, who died in 1727. From him came Terenzio, born in 1683 and Giambattista, a doctor in law and who settled in Arcevia, having married, on April 12, 1741, the noble Anastasia, daughter of Scipione Orsini , last of the family, which forced his descendants to add Orsini's surname and weapon.

Pietro di Giambattista, he went into "utroque", in 1763 at the University of Perugia, in June 1799 he was elected governor of Arcevia and then was admitted to the nobility of first degree with all descendants, which then in its members sat on the Council , having the priory and the gonfalonierato. Agostino was born from Piero who, having married on 26th July 1810 Giulia Filippini, of a noble family from the Arcevia, the last of his family, was obliged with his descendants to assume the surname Filippini. The nobility of the family was recognized with a diploma by the Head of Government on July 26, 1930, which recognized the coat of arms, inscribing it to the Golden Book of Italian Nobility.

The first Spera to set foot in Belmonte Mezzagno was Gioacchino and his wife Ignazia, he was born around 1740 and moved to the village just before 1760; we are sure of this because their first son Ignazio Spera was born in Belmonte in 1760. He followed it: Antonina in 1765; Giuseppe Antonio in 1766; Rosalia in 1772 and Rosolino in 1777.

Ignazio married Giuseppa La Rocca and they had nine children: Gioacchino; Ignazia; Augustine; Paul; Francis; Giacomo; Rosaria and Antonia. 

Giuseppe Antonio married Giacoma Bisconti and from their union four children were born: Gioacchino; Ludovico; Antonina and Rosaria.

Rosolino married Giuseppa D'Agostino and had five children: Gioacchino; Ignazia; Vincenzo and Maria. Rosolino and Giuseppa D'Agostino were our ancestry.

From all of them the entire lineage of the Spera di Belmonte Mezzagno opened.

Villa Romana del Casale

Dear friends, today I propose a deepening of an artistic Sicilian good part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites: the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armerina.

The Villa del Casale is a fundamental testimony of Roman civilization: its mosaics, as well as highlight an original figurative language, are an exceptional custom document, which allowed to investigate many aspects of daily life and cultural exchanges in the late Roman Empire.




The Villa
From the beginning of the excavations, in 1930, it became clear that it was the residence of a wealthy

owner or administrator of a large landowner. Two portraits found inside the villa could represent the members of the owner family.
The stratigraphic studies reveal that the first version of the building was conceived in a period ranging from the first century of the Christian era and the age of the Tetrarchy at the end of the third century.
Many indications that it was destroyed by an earthquake in the first decade of the fourth century. On the ruins of the old house it was built a new characterized by a grandiose monumentality.
Dated between 320 and 370, the building suggests that it was commissioned, if not by a Roman emperor, at least by a rich landowner of the region. Some scholars argue the hypothesis that the building belonged to the powerful Maximian, General Diocletian.
Despite the gradual degradation, the villa was inhabited at least until the Byzantine (eighth century),
The building was conceived on the model of Roman villas, but with a monumentality unequaled enough to make it appear that a villa is just a real palace.

An articulate, refined civil architecture

Built on terraces, the villa covering an incredible extension: until now the excavations have brought to light an area of ​​around 4,000 square meters. The complex appears divided into three major groupings connected evenly: the main entrance with the spa district, characterized by the presence of a gym, the "frigidarium", the "tepidarium" and "calidarium", as well as some environments accessories such as the pool or room for massage; the great peristyle with a central basin, on which there are the living rooms and the guest, and which leads, through the Great Hall of the Hunt, classroom basilica and the private environments; Finally the triclinium with the elliptical colonnade courtyard, a place to house the banquets of representation.
The function of salt, as well as their placement and architectural complexity, it is almost always
highlighted with clear allusions of the subjects represented in the beautiful mosaic floors.

The mosaics
unique feature of the villa are the 3,500 square meters of mosaics. In them you can highlight
two different issues: the classic one, dedicated to the mythological scenes, which are depicted mythological and hunting scenes; and the domestic one, illustrating the domestic life and plays with great fidelity and realism animal and plant species.
The most interesting mosaics are the "Great Hunt", and the great mosaic of the "Ten Girls".

Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa

Sixty years after his death on July 23, 1957, I propose a deepening of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, author of the novel "Il Gattopardo".

In 1957, as already mentioned, he was dying in Rome Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, aristocrat from Palermo who matured late literary ambitions. Ambitions that could not quite indulge in life, because his masterpiece, the novel entitled "Il Gattopardo" It was published posthumously. About Giorgio Bassani, editorial consultant at the time of the publishing house Feltrinelli, if the novel by Sicilian writer, was successfully released in 1958, and immediately felt a "literary event", so as to win the Strega Prize in 1959.

Divergent opinion was to Elio Vittorini, player for the publishing house Mondadori, who had refused to print it.

Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, in whose coat of arms appeared a leopard, was born in Palermo December 23, 1896.

Of retiring disposition and lonely, he led his youth in study, travel and periods of deliberate isolation in the family palace.

The advent of fascism, he retired to his native Sicily, taking frequent trips abroad. He mastered the French language thanks to his mother Beatrice, however companion of many journeys. The close relationship between mother and son influenced the outcome of the marital union between Joseph and his wife Licy, Latvian and aristocratic daughter of a German baron. The wedding was held in Riga in 1932, but soon the disagreements with the mother-in-law led Licy to leave the family. Only later, when Latvia was invaded by Nazi troops, the two met again in Italy.

Suffering from an incurable disease, the writer died in Rome July 23, 1957 at the age of 63 years, unaware of all the celebrities that his novel, as yet unpublished, would reach. In 1963 Luchino Visconti film realized the transposition into an extraordinary film which won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Nick La Rocca, and the invention of jazz

New York February 26, 1917: four boys, who call themselves the Original Dixieland Jass Band, are affecting their first record in the "RCA Victor" studies.

Tony Sbarbaro, Nick La Rocca, Alcide "Yellow" Nunez and Eddy Edwards may not know that this day will go down in legend, in fact, are affecting the first jazz disc of history.

You may have noticed the Sicilian surname La Rocca, so well, in fact, Nick La Rocca had Sicilian

origins, his father was Girolamo La Rocca di Salaparuta, mother Nina De Vita Poggioreale.

Let's move on to his biography:

Nick, now considered a pioneer of classic jazz cornet player, was born on April 11, 1889. His first compositions the sounds in front of the cashier at the theater near his house; Only in 1916 he joined the group Johnny Stein, who later became the famous Original Dixieland Jazz Band, which later became known as the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, whose leader he became. The group, also because of personality problems that plagued Nick, was dissolved several times.

There are many well-known musicians who played in the orchestra: to remember two guitarists, Johnny Saint Cyr and the Italian Michele Ortuso.

Nick with his group composed many songs including Dixieland Jass One Step and Livery Stable Blues released by RCA Victor, and the famous Tiger Rag that captivated millions of listeners and offers from all over the US.

In 1919 the Original Dixieland Jazz Band performed in London as the official orchestra of the Victory Ball at the Savoy Hotel to celebrate the signing of the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War: the sound of the band in front of the royal family of George V who remained extremely fascinated; in the same year they were recorded 17 tracks for British Columbia.

In 1920 he made his triumphant return to New York where he continued his lively success, until in 1922 began to manifest a strong movement against the Jazz: Nick and his band decided to move to Harlem where the laws anti-jazz were approved only in 1925, the year when he decided to disband the group.

For 10 years suspended any musical activity, he resumed only in 1936, he continued his career for another two years until in 1938 he decided to dissolve the band permanently; In the same year, the now fifty years old Nick, who is considered the creator of jazz and the music of Christopher Columbus, he met Ruth, a young girl of 20 years, the two were married and had as many as 6 children among whom only James Dominik continues still her father's career.

suffers from heart, died in New Orleans in 1961 at the age of 72 years.