Zizzi (surname of my paternal grandfather).

(updated 23 July 2007)

Research.

My research has led me thus far to Belduno Zizzi, my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather (i.e. 10^th great-grandfather), who was born about 1538. Following the paternal line, next is Giovanni Antonio Zizzi, then Palmo Antonio Zizzi, then Giovanni Zizzi, then Pietro Giacomo Zizzi (who himself married a Zizzi), then Vito Francesco Zizzi, then Giovanni Quirico Zizzi, then Vito Francesco Zizzi, then Vito Antonio Zizzi (who also married a Zizzi; their great-grandfathers were brothers). His son, my great-grandfather, Giuseppe Domenico Zizzi, wed a Zizzi, too (her great-grandfather was Giuseppe Domenico’s grandfather). (My grandfather's brother Vito also married a Zizzi, resulting in a third successive generation of inbreeding!) My grandfather’s name was Vitantonio Zizzi. Several related Zizzi lines also appear on the side of my paternal grandmother Elisabetta Maria Semeraro. I am descended from Belduno Zizzi at least 8 times.

Settlement Patterns.

The Zizzi surname is uncommon. A Zizzi family settled heavily in and around Cisternino, Province of Brindisi, Region of Puglia, Italy.¹ In fact, one of the first entries in the baptism registry of the Church of San Nicola, in Cisternino, is for a Margherita Zizzi in 1559.² The earliest mention of a Zizzi yet found in Cisternino belongs to Allegranza Zizzi, who is subject of a document (dated 1558 but most of the script is thus far illegible) notarized by Berardino Amati and on file in the Archivio dello Stato in Brindisi. ^2A Fairly early on, though, the Zizzi family was to be found in nearby Martina Franca.³ A Zizzi male was reportedly found in the Provence region of France in the early 1500s, although I have not myself seen the document that purports to prove it.⁴ More recently, members of the family have emigrated to other regions of Italy, as well as to the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Romania^4A and elsewhere.⁵

Families with the surnames Zizzo and Zizza are found in the same general area on the "heel" of the Italian "boot" as Zizzi families are found. However, both of those names are also found in fairly large numbers in Sicily, where only several Zizzi familes reside.⁶ This may indicate a Sicilian origin for the Zizzo and Zizza families but not for the Zizzi family.

Families with the surname Zizi are much scarcer but appear most numerous in Sardinia, where a very small contingent of Zizzi families is also found.⁷

It is difficult to conclude whether these families are related or to what extent variant spellings of names occurred over the centuries, thereby making unrelated families appear related and related families appear unrelated. I explore below the possible connection with the Zizi family.

Meaning.

The meaning of the Zizzi surname remains a mystery. One source finds the Zizzi name related to the Sicilian word "Zizzu," meaning "elegant" or "dandy."⁸ Another claims Greek origin, in the phrase "tzis tzis," signifying "hiss; whistle" or "persuasive" or "whisper; murmur; grumble," and places branches of the family in greater Greece, Hungary and Romania, with especially large concentrations in Cisternino and Fasano, Italy.⁹ I personally saw a tavern in Rhodes, Greece called Taverna Zizi. Still others speculate that the name is Sephardic Jewish.¹⁰ I have also been told that the name is Arabic, or Spanish or Catalan, or Turkish. Given the traditional place of Puglia as a crossroads of the Mediterranean, any of these origins seems possible. A source also lists "Zizza", "Zizzo" and "Zizi" as variants, but I question such a blanket conclusion based merely on spelling (no evidence is proferred).¹¹

Origins.

When I first started research on my Zizzi ancestry, many years after my paternal grandparents had passed away, my father and his siblings gave the impression that the Zizzi family descended from peasants as far as the eye could see. Not knowing what records might be available and whom they might cover, I had little hope of tracing these poor, toiling farmers beyond a few generations. The poor are, after all, largely anonymous to history.

Twenty years of research have given a vastly different perspective. As it turns out, at least some Cisternino Zizzis in earlier centuries were quite prominent. In 1583, a Vito Zizzi became mayor¹² and notary in Cisternino, followed several decades later by a mayor named Pompeo Zizzi.¹³ A Pietro Zizzi was also an archivist (a literate, influential member of the community) and a Vitantonio Zizzi was a notary in Cisternino in the 1700s.¹⁴ (In civil law jurisdictions like Italy, notaries perform many functions of attorneys in American-style common law systems.) It was this Pietro Zizzi who stored at least one document in the parish archives that might bear some relation to the Zizzi family,¹⁵ although analyses conducted to date to attempt to decipher the script and translate the Latin have thus far shown no reference to the Zizzi name. Finally, a Zizzi founded in Cisternino, probably in the early 1600s, a religious order called the Congrega Santissimo,¹⁶ and the Zizzi family of Cisternino married into local noble families such as Potio, Amati, Molendini and Pepe.¹⁷ Given that the Zizzi name is quite rare, it seems probable that at least the Cisternino Zizzis are all related and that the aforementioned Zizzis are cousins.

Zizzis in other parts of Puglia may also be ancestors or cousins – and some of them, too, held positions of prominence. In the town of Casamassima, near the City of Bari, a Vito Zizzi (son of the notary Andrea Zizzi ) and was mayor in the late 1500s and earlier had been appointed by feudal lord Antonio Acquaviva as head of a charity founded by his sister.¹⁸ In 1556 the Duchess of Puglia and granddaughter of the King of Spain, Bona Sforza, renovated a palace (Palazzo Zizzi) in the city of Bari for one of her personal physicians, Dr. Onorato Zizzi (son of Giacomo Zizzi) ^18A from the nearby town of Minervino.¹⁹ Although during construction he fell into disgrace and was jailed, he was later vindicated.²⁰ At least three sources connect this Zizzi family with the Sforza rulers of Puglia, and one suggests a Milanese origin for the family.²¹ Professor Enza Aurisicchio believes the name Zizzi derives from the noble Barzizzi/Barziza family, which came from Lombardy and had ties to the Sforza dynasty. ^21A

The reference to Milan is tantalizing, since even further back a father (Corrado) and son (Bartolomeo) of the name "Zizi" appear as magistrates in records from Verona dating from 1301 and 1336. Originally from Imola, this family held a coat of arms.²² Milan controlled Verona in the late 1300s, which could have resulted in the family’s migration to Milan – and still later to Puglia. A variation in spelling should not come as a surprise, since some local Cisternino birth records as late as the early 1800s spell the name “Zizzi”as "Zizi." There is also repeated confusion between the Latin and Italian versions, and between the spoken and written versions, of the name: sources in one town in Puglia refer to the same family as Zizzo, Zizzi, Zizzus and Zizza!²³

Of course, Venice controlled Verona at the time of Venice's occupation of southeast Italy, in the first half of the 1500s, and this also could have resulted in the migration of the Zizi family from Verona to Puglia. Indeed, my great-great-great-grandfather Vito Francesco Zizzi was married to a Marangi -- the name of a noble family from Venice.²⁴

Based on my research to date, I lean toward the theory that the Zizzi family arrived in Puglia from Milan with the Sforza dynasty in the early 1500s. The family may earlier have originated in Imola as the “Zizi’ family but this remains speculation. It is possible to reconstruct a hypothetical genealogy of the early Zizzi family in Puglia based on sources from Casamassima, Bari and Cisternino. One could imagine Andrea Zizzi, father of Casamassima’s mayor Vito Zizzi,²⁵ as the original Zizzi immigrant from Milan to Puglia. He is described as a notary in one source but in fact is not listed as having practiced in Casamassima, where his son lived.²⁶ Did he live in Bari, as a courtesan of the Sforza rulers? Perhaps the doctor for whom the Palazzo Zizzi in Bari was built was another of Andrea’s sons. And the Zizzi males listed as having fathered children starting 1559 in Cisternino²⁷ may have been grandchildren of one or two other sons of Andrea Zizzi. One potential link between the Casamassima and Cisternino Zizzi families may be seen in the choice of spouses. My great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Vito Francesco Zizzi was married to Maria Lucia Mele, while my great-great-great-grandfather Pietro Antonio Zizzi married Isabella Pinto. Zizzi, Mele and Pinto are all cited as names of families living in Casamassima in the 1700s.²⁸ Further, the last will and testament of Vito Zizzi, mayor of Casamassima, refers to a Pietro Zizzi, a name found among the earliest known Cisternino Zizzis.²⁹

Zizzi Trivia.

Noteworthy and Interesting Zizzis from the 1900s to the present:

o Michelangelo Zizzi (poet)

o Paola Zizzi (quantum physicist)

o James Zizzi (New York City area real estate developer)

o Eric Zizzi (desert racer)

o Vitantonio Zizzi (mayor of Martina Franca, Italy)

o Marge Zizzi (bridesmaid at wedding of actress Suzanne Pleshette and actor Troy Donahue (she was the best man's fiancee)³⁰

o Francesco Zizzi (police escort slain during 1978 assassination of Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro)³¹

Interesting Zizzi facts:

o There is a chain of restaurants in England called Zizzi (they're pretty good -- try the tiramisu!).

o A company called Zizzi manufactures clothes for middle aged women and sells them in Denmark, Norway and Finland.

o There is a species of pond weed called Potamogeton zizzi.

Footnotes:

1. www.italianculture.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fgens.labo.net%2Fen%2Fcognomi%2F

2. Original document reviewed by the author.

2A. Original document reviewed by the author.

3. Website of Giuseppe Zizzi (no longer active but copy on file with the author of this website).

4. Based on a document he examined at the Regional Archives of Aix en Provence, Jacques Lapeyre states on his website (http://gw1.geneanet.org/index.php3?b=opajack&lang=fr;p=catherine;n=perrin) that Honoré Zizzi and Catherine Perrin were married 30 November 1510 in Puy Ste. Réparade, which is a small town 20 kilometers to the north of Aix en Provence. In email correspondence dated 19 May 2005, Jacques indicated that the document does not cite the parents or place of origin of Honoré Zizzi.

4A. The passenger list for the ship S.S. “La Savoie” includes Agyr Zizzi, son of Bello Zizzi. “Agyr” is a Turkish name. There are many persons of Turkish descent who live near the port of Constanta, in Romania. It is conceivable that his father, Bello Zizzi, was an Italian sailor who left from Bari or Brinidisi for Constanta, where he met his wife. Oddly, Agyr’s place of birth, last residence and the residence of his father are listed as “Hrupista”, which is in Greek Macedonia.

5. Based on the author's examination of telephone directories in various countries.

6. www.italianculture.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fgens.labo.net%2Fen%2Fcognomi%2F

7. www.italianculture.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fgens.labo.net%2Fen%2Fcognomi%2F

8. D. Taber, genealogical research on Zizzi name, July 31, 1986.

9. Website of Giuseppe Zizzi (no longer active but copy on file with the author of this website).

10. Carpet dealer at a shop named Anadalous, Place Amrah No. 32, Kasbah, Tangiers, Morocco, July 1997; M. Romanski, an Israeli Sephardic Jew, April 1999, who also indicated that the name is spelled "Zizi".

11. D. Taber, genealogical research on Zizzi name, July 31, 1986.

12. At that time, a mayor was responsable for keeping an inventory of property of the citizenry, acting as custodian of documents and reporting to his superiors (whether they be king or lower feudal lord). Michele Viterbo, Storia della Puglia dalla preistoria alla fine del XVII secolo attraverso le vicende dell’antica Contea di Coversano, v. II, p. 393.

13. Saverio Ostuni, Cisternino: Libro Rosso Comunale, 1463-1749, pp. 61-62.

14. Saverio Ostuni, Cisternino: Chiese, Riti, Antiche Tradizioni, p. 275.

15. Saverio Ostuni, Cisternino: Chiese, Riti, Antiche Tradizioni, p. 275.

16. Provincia di Bari, La Terra di Bari sotto l'aspetto storico, economico e naturale, vol. II, p. A74.

17. Enzo Filomena, L’Armerista di Cisternino.

18. Sante Montanaro, Casamassima nella Storia dei Tempi, vol. I, pp. 484-85, 497-98, 528-29, 664-75, vol. II, pp. 67, 1256, 1262-72. In his will, Vito Zizzi himself bequeathed funds to found a social assistance charity – which was not uncommon at that time and even perhaps somewhat in vogue among the moneyed classes. See Achille Mirizio, “I ‘Monti de Pieta’ e l’Assistenza Sociale a Monopoli fra Cinque e Seicento”, in Monopoli nell’Eta del Rinascimento, v. III, p. 1023 et seq.

18A. Vito Antonio Melchiorre, Bari Vecchia: Strade, vicoli, corti e piazze, p. 262.

19. Ludovico Pepe, Storia della successione degli Sforeschi negli stati di Puglia e Calabria, p. 245.

20. www.bdp.it/~batd0001/ungaretti4.htm; Vito Buono and Angela delle Foglie, Percorsi Turistici in Provincia di Bari, p. 20.

21. www.polonia-wloska.org/biuletyn/Bona%20Sforza.thm; Vito Buono and Angela delle Foglie, Bari & Hinterland, p. 26; Pasquale Sorrenti, Le Strade di Bari, p. 247; Ludovico Pepe, Storia della successione degli Sforeschi negli stati di Puglia e Calabria, p. 245.

21A. Enza Aurisiccio, interview in Ostuni, Province of Brinidisi, on 13 July 2007.

22. G.B. di Crollalanza, Dizionario Storico-Blasonico delle Famiglie Nobili e Notabili Italiane Estinte e Fiorenti, vol. 3, p. 124.

23. Sante Montanaro, Casamassima nella Storia dei Tempi, vol. I, pp. 664, 980, 1007, 1054.

24. G.B. di Crollalanza, Dizionario Storico-Blasonico delle Famiglie Nobili e Notabili Italiane Estinte e Fiorenti, vol. 2, p. 71.

25. Sante Montanaro, Casamassima nella Storia dei Tempi, vol. I, p. 664.

26. Sante Montanaro, Casamassima nella Storia dei Tempi, vol. I, app. III.

27. Original documents reviewed and summarized by don Saverio Ostuni.

28. Sante Montanaro, Casamassima nella Storia dei Tempi, vol. I, app. VI.

29. Testament of Vito Zizzi, in Gli Atti Notarili di Casamassima – Notaio Vito Patrono A. 1597, pp. 157r-177v.

30. http://home.houston.rr.com/blase/Root%20Folder/wedding1.html.

31. http://www.ecn.org/rete.sprigionare/moro/R140398d.html.