Family Names for the leaders of the three Italian Republics

Italy, even more so than Greece, can justifiably be called the birthplace of Western Democracy. The ancient Romans practiced a form of republican government which mixed aristocracy with democracy for several hundred years, before the tension between the two resulted in the creation of a monarchy, in the form of the Empire. With the collapse of the Roman Empire in the 5th Century, Italy fell into chaos for many centuries.. But as early as the 6th Century many cities had created --or recreated-- republican institutions. By the 14th Century, there were three very robust, wealthy, and powerful republics in Italy. Florence, Genoa, and Venice. These were oligarchic rather than democratic republics, that limited allowed one to vote roughly in proportion to one's wealth, a custom that did not die out in Europe until the 20th Century. With that kind of a set up, you would expect a small number of powerful families to monopolize the job of head of state and this is exactly what happened. Actually, ancient Rome wasn't much different and modern democracies tend to see the same names popping up in leadership positions.

The constitutional set-up in Venice made it much less likely that the republic would become dominated by one family, which was the fate of Genoa and Florence, as shown by the number of names available. The list below shows the families that dominated in each of the Italian republics during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.

FLORENCE                      GENOA                         VENICE                        

Bardi                         Boccanera                     Barbarigo                     

Bueri                         Caboto                        Celsi                         

Cavalcanti                    Colombo                       Contarini                     

Cerchi                        Doria*                        Dandolo                       

de Medici*                                                  Corner                        

degli Albizzi                                               Dolfin                        

Donati                                                      Falier                        

Pazzi                                                       Foscari                       

Peruzzi                                                     Gradenigo                     

Tornabuoni                                                  Mocenigo                      

                                                            Morosini                      

                                                            Pisani                        

                                                            Polo                          

                                                            Soranzo                       

                                                            Steno                         

                                                            Tiepolo                       

                                                            Venier                        

                                                            Zeno                          

                                                            Zorzi
                         

* Indicates the family which came to dominate the Republic

over the next few generations.

Typical First Names

Andrea              Carlo               Cosimo              Filippo             Francesco           

Giovanni            Giuliano            Giuseppi            Lorenzo             Piero               

                    Pietro                                  Simone