Italian Heritage

I suppose that most people are interested in knowing the history of their family and cultural background. I also suppose that in that regard at least, I am not unlike most people. Over the years, I have toyed with several beginnings at tracing both my paternal and maternal genealogy. It is a daunting task especially if you have little anecdotal information to begin with.

Fortunately, in my case, I have a relative who has spent a couple of decades researching not only our family tree but also the origins of the surname De Risio. After his long and arduous task, Emilio De Risio published his book titled "The Origins of the surname De Risio from the 11th century to the 20th century". In it, he provides a detailed accounting of the probable origins of the name, references to evidence of our earliest progenitors and beginning in the 16th century, a detailed tree which extends to the present 15th generation of De Risio's (that would be me...). He has also taken great pains to include some history of the town of Scerni in Abruzzo from which our family originates and the whereabouts and professions of all the De Risio's he knows of around the world. Our extended family resides primarily in Italy, Argentina and the United States.

I have gathered some interesting information from Abruzzo2000.com. Here is an excerpt from their history of the town of Scerni:

"The name appears in the Catalogum Baronum as Sernem, and in the Libro delle Decime (1324) as Castrum Sarnii. The area was rich in human activities in ancient times thanks to the presence of the Great Tratturo, which was trod twice every year by all the large community of Abruzzese shepherds going South to Apulia in early autumn from the mountainous hinterland, and returning in spring, who had a feudal right to stop in a vast area now surrounding Scerni. These ancient, religious shepherd population stopped in the vicinity of the present sanctuary of the Madonna della Strada, which had been erected exacly for these travellers. Scerni was between two main migratory paths: a Northern one, the Lanciano-Cupello route, and a Southern branch, Centurelle - Montesecco."

"Until the early 1700's Scerni was of lesser importance than nearby Villaragna. A large part of the territory was still dependent on the itinerant economy coming from the seasonal migration of the shepherds, who had a feudal right to pause and feed their sheep in the fields (this was the "stucco"). When the feudal system was abolished all over the Italian territory in 1806 by the Napoleonic administrations the whole transhumance system received a fatal blow and started to decay, and the wide territory known as the "stucco di Scerni" was given to the peasants. In Scerni meanwhile, already in the mid-18th century the powerful De Risio (later De Riseis, and Barons of Crecchio) family began to acquire properties and lands, as well as importance. The two events brought about the rise to importance of Scerni."*

I have made several trips to Italy over the last 15 years and have taken many, many photographs. Here are a few:

	Chieti		Chieti
	Fiesole		Florence
	San Gimignano		Ostia Antica
	Rome		San Pietro in Vaticano

* Reproduced by permission of Abruzzo2000.com


Top of Page	Home	De Risio