Italian nobility
Nobles had a specific legal status and held most of the wealth and various privileges denied to other classes, mainly politicians.
A limited number of noble titles granted by the pope were formally acknowledged according to Article 42 of the Lateran Treaty until its abrogation in 1985.
The Romans, Byzantines and Saracens exported different elements of their aristocratic structures to the island of Sicily, however, it was not until the Norman invasion of 1061, led by Roger I de Hauteville, that the Sicilian aristocracy and feudal system took root.
The Orsini, Cesarini, Borghese, Aldobrandini, Ludovisi, and Giustiniani were with the Pamphili; while opposed to them, was the house of Colonna and the Barberini.Popes commonly elevated members of prominent families to the position of Cardinal; especially second and third sons who would not otherwise inherit hereditary titles.
Families that had previously been limited to agricultural or mercantile ventures found themselves, sometimes within only one or two generations, elevated to the Roman nobility when a relative was elected to the papal throne.
[2] Modern Italy is dotted with the fruits of their success – various family palazzi stand today as a testament to their sometimes meteoric rise to power.
With the constitutional reform of 1528, belonging to an albergo became from optional to compulsory, effectively transforming the alberghi into lists of registration to the city nobility recognized by the government.
[5][6] In Milan, the first officially drawn up list of nobility was the "Matricula nobilium familiarum Mediolani" by Ottone Visconti, dated 20 April 1377, in which, however, only the noble Milanese families who helped the Visconti family in their seizure of power over the municipality of Milan were listed, therefore considered the most faithful and ancient nobility in the future lifetime of the city.
These families, during this period, played a fundamental role in the politics of the territory, without ever completely outclassing the figure of the duke.
Although there were numerous noble houses across Venice's home and overseas land possessions, the Republic was in fact ruled as an oligarchy by about 20 to 30 families of Venice's urban nobility, who elected the Doge, held political and military offices and directly participated in the daily governing of the state.
They were predominantly merchants, with their main source of income being trade with the East and other entrepreneurial activities, on which they became incredibly wealthy.
The architect of Italian unification was Count Camillo Benso di Cavour, the Chief Minister of Victor Emmanuel.
In September of that year, invading Italian troops entered the Papal state, and the ensuing occupation forced Pope Pius IX to his palace where he declared himself a prisoner in the Vatican, as did his successors, until the Lateran Pacts of 1929.
Under the united Kingdom of Italy a new national nobility, an attempt (not wholly successful) to impose a uniform nobiliary law, was created, including male succession (although it was possible for ancient titles to be transferred to an heir in the female line by royal authority), and some acknowledgement was made by the King of Italy of titles conferred by Francis II of the Two Sicilies in exile by making new grants in the same name.
The practice continued until the 20th century, when nominations would be made by the Prime Minister of Italy and approved by the Crown.
[13] The southern kingdoms of Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia, as well as the Papal states, granted titles as in monarchies such as Spain, France, or England: duke, marquis, count, baron.
[16][full citation needed]During the Renaissance, noble families conquered most of the Italian city-states except the republics of Venice, Genoa, Lucca, San Marino and Ragusa.
The official ranks under the Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946) were: This hierarchy resulted from the overlapping of titles granted by the pre-unification states, though these were different from each other.
