Siggerio Ruffo became Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II's grand marshal of the Kingdom of Sicily in 1235.

[1] Fulco was the son of Fulco VII Beniamino Tristano Ruffo di Calabria, 5th Duke of Guardia Lombarda (1848–1901), and Laura Mosselman du Chenoy, a Belgian aristocrat, whose maternal grandfather was Count Jacques André Coghen, Belgium's second finance minister.

[2] Fulco was made, by decree of 15 March 1928, Prince Ruffo di Calabria, in the Kingdom of Italy.

Fulco was related to historically eminent Roman and southern Italian noble families, including the Colonna, Orsini, Pallavicini, Alliata and Rospigliosi.

[3] Ruffo di Calabria returned to military duty before Italy's entry into World War I, and was assigned to the Battaglione Aviatori (which later became the Corpo Aeronautico Militare) on 20 December 1914.

In the end, he shot down twenty enemy airplanes in 53 combats,[3] making him the fifth highest scoring Italian flying ace of World War I.

[3][9] On 1 February 1919, the Bongiovanni commission's military intelligence report verified all twenty of Ruffo di Calabria's confirmed victories, although still denying the five that were unconfirmed.

[citation needed] For this reason, in the immediate post-war period, Ruffo di Calabria was referred to the High Court of Justice for Sanctions against Fascism.

His two sons Fabrizio and Augusto had served as partisans and were engaged in the Marche at the time of the Allies breaking through the Gustav Line, and his son Augusto had died at sea off Pescara while taking part in a joint action with the Allies on the night of 2/3 November 1943.

Luisa served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen Elena of Italy They had seven children:[1] Media related to Fulco Ruffo di Calabria at Wikimedia Commons