The family is a branch of the most famous Carraresi: the first to bear the nickname Papafava was a Giacomino da Carrara, Viceroy of Vicenza in 1269,[1] who lived in the 13th century.

The original branch, the one of Papafava dei Carraresi, settled in Venice, where as a result of the financial support that its members gave to the Republic in the War of Candia against the Ottomans, in 1652 they were referred to the Venetian patrician [4] in the person of Cav.

The Papafava of the Carraresi were confirmed noble by the Austrian imperial government with the Sovereign Resolution of November 22, 1817.

They were never united with the Venetian patriciate but gained the comic title connected with the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the villas of Silvella and Coseano, which were invested on September 23, 1745 by Doge Pietro Grimani.

[6] After the fall of the Serenissima, their nobility was recognized by Vienna with the Sovereign Resolution of September 4, 1818; the rank of accounts of the Austrian Empire was granted on October 19, 1823.