Italian Noble and Princely Families 1: June 2004 - July 2007

[Tosca]

1)Princess Alessandra Borghese attended a wedding in Rome

2) Alessandra and her brother Prince Fabio

3) Alessandra with Princess Bianca di Savoia-Aosta, the Duke of Aosta's
daughter (source: U. Pizzi/dagospia)

[rosana]

I´m so confused: Borghese, Savoy, Aosta,Ruffo di Calabria,Bourbon-Parma. Why are there so many princes and what do they have in common???

[Warren]

Originally Posted by rosana

I´m so confused: Borghese, Savoy, Aosta,Ruffo di Calabria,Bourbon-Parma. Why are there so many princes and what do they have in common???

The Italian State did not come into being until 1861. Before that the Italian peninsula was made up of several countries including:

• Kingdom of Sardinia (Royal House of Savoy; Savoy-Aosta is a sub-branch)
• Kingdom of The Two-Sicilies (Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies)
• Grand Duchy of Tuscany (Imperial House of Habsburg)
• Duchy of Modena (Imperial House of Habsburg)
• Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (Royal House of Bourbon-Parma)
• The Papal States (when the Vatican had a real country)

The Italian Princely Families are generally quite ancient and devolve from the former city states, Duchies and old patrician families.
The situation is no different to that in Germany and Austria where there exist to this day many famillies who were ennobled with a princely title and status centuries ago.

[rosana]

Thank you very much Warren for the explanation, it´s much more clear now.

[tbhrc]

The New Bachelor: Prince Charming


Most of the women watching The Bachelor's newest catch would not be his type: "I want someone who doesn’t sit at home watching TV," the newest reality hunk, Lorenzo Borghese, tells PEOPLE

http://people.aol.com/people/article...540696,00.html


Photo by: BOB D'AMICO / ABC

[Tosca]

I never heard of him before. Is he a brother of Princess Alessandra Borghese's?

[Tosca]

Princess Alessandra Borghese and her friend Princess Gloria von Thurn und Taxis attended a retospective of Andy Wharol in Rome (U. Pizzi/dagospia)

[LauraMCS]

Here's an old article about an alleged 'Contessa'. Any input?


The countess diaries: Natick woman finds out she is Italian royalty
By Sarah MacDonald / News Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2004

NATICK -- Seven years ago, Dawn Vivo Amore had hit rock bottom. She was getting divorced and recovering from a car accident which left her in physical therapy and unemployed.
Then one day, as she was hanging out in a friend's coffee shop, she remembered the stories her grandmother told her about Italy, her family's native land.
"I don't know, I just asked for a piece of paper and started writing, something like 'Hi, my name is Dawn Vivo Amore and I am looking for my family. I know my grandfather's name and that his relatives' names started with a P and they're from Corfini. Can you help me find any information?' I faxed it to the town and got a reply back in 20 minutes," Vivo Amore said.
The reply directed Vivo Amore to contact Antonio Varrasso, a historian who had been researching her family -- Italian royalty who ruled central southern Italy -- for years.
What Varrasso told Vivo Amore -- that she was entitled to be recognized as a Countess de Castiglione a Casauria -- began a whirlwind of change for the single mom and former customer service representative.
Next month, a Hollywood studio will finalize a contract to turn the story of the Countess Aurora De Petris-Fraggianni Vivo Amore into a movie. This fall, a book about the countess' life -- written by Natick resident Carmine Trubiano -- will be published.
"One day you're sitting there with a beat-up 1987 Honda Civic and then everything has changed. I was in shock," said Vivo Amore, who, at 35, does not fit the stereotype of a countess. "This only happens to Cinderella. This doesn't happen to me."
But, because of her relation to a family that at one point employed 14,000 peasants throughout its land and castles, it does.
The story begins with Count Lorenzo De Petris-Fraggianni, who lived in Castiglione, Italy, until his death in 1927.
The count married a woman who was unable to bear children, though his extramarital activities led to offspring. One of Lorenzo's mistresses', a famous opera singer, gave birth to a boy, Felice Vivo Amore, before the turn of the 20th century.
Lorenzo tried to convince his wife to recognize Felice as a blood heir, but she refused. Instead, the boy went through private and military schools before settling down in Leominster, Mass., where a number of immigrants from the region had gone. He got married, had children and died, all without recognition of his heritage.
When Count Lorenzo died, so did the royal line -- until Dawn Vivo Amore showed up.
"For three generations nobody cared, nobody asked, nobody wanted to know where they came from," said Natick's Trubiano, whose family is from Castiglione and who translated when Vivo Amore and Varrasso spoke.
While there are other Vivo Amore blood relatives, some more direct descendants than Dawn, royal rules say only one person can be countess at a time, Trubiano said.
"There is one contessa and she has been recognized by the Italian government," he said.
Vivo Amore traveled to Italy to meet some of the people who had cared for the count until his death.
"As soon as they opened the door, they saw the resemblance," Trubiano said. "They were just stunned."
Still something was off.
"She couldn't go to Italy and be Dawn. It sounds weird, Contessa Dawn," Trubiano said.
So Vivo Amore changed her name to its Italian translation, Aurora.
There's no family fortune and the modern-day Italian government does not recognize royal titles. Still, Vivo Amore received her family's section of a palace in Castiglione and can stay there whenever she likes.
Perhaps the biggest change is the treatment she receives.
"I live in the world where I go to work every day and I live in a world where people bow to me," said Vivo Amore, who now lives in Leominster. "It's always in the back of my mind. I am still the same person but there's this other part. I feel I've grown into the role."
In that role, Vivo Amore travels and speaks to school and civic groups about the importance of heritage. She is raising her children, 10-year-old Michael and 2-year-old Destina, while working with King Juan Carlos of Spain to determine whether there is a link between the royal families.
She hopes to begin marketing Italian products in this country and is preparing her children to continue the family line.
"I used to be just like everybody else. By chance, by destiny, this became my life," Vivo Amore said. "There will be no stopping now."

Metro West

[Toledo]

Hi LauraMCS!
I read about it the first time that article came out and seems the story just died out like so many others. Recently I read about a similar case but it involved a lady who found out she was African royalty. It's still interesting to see how a person's life can be changed so drastically from one moment to another one.

[kirstengrafin]

Originally Posted by Toledo

Hi LauraMCS!
I read about it the first time that article came out and seems the story just died out like so many others. Recently I read about a similar case but it involved a lady who found out she was African royalty. It's still interesting to see how a person's life can be changed so drastically from one moment to another one.

Articles about the imaginary contessa still appear in community newspapers in Massachusetts...subsequent articles mention that her title is strictly "honorary".

MONTACHUSETT TELEGRAM & GAZETTE 2/27/2005
Royal roots lead to a new life; Movie, promotion on contessa's plate
Anna L. Griffin / STAFF REPORTER

...The contessa was born Dawn Vivo Amore in Leominster and is one of several descendents of Felice Vivo Amore living in this country and abroad. Several years ago while recovering from a car accident, she decided to research her family's history.

The research lead her to a startling discovery; her family is descendant of royalty. Her great-grandfather, Felice Vivo Amore, was the illegitimate son of a count, Lorenzo De-Petris Fraggiani, the count of Fontanello. Felice was the result of an affair the count had with an opera singer.

Further inquiries lead her to Antonio Alfredo Varrasso, the official historian for that region of Italy. Mr. Varrasso was happy to learn the count had living relatives because it was thought the last member of the line died in 1983.


It was through Mr. Varrasso that she met Mr. Trubiano, a retired language professor from Boston University. A trip to Italy in 1998 cemented her ties to the region further: The townspeople gave her the honorary title of contessa as well as several rooms in a castle once owned by her ancestors.

I'm really amazed that the two "experts" advising this woman don't understand that a countess isn't royal. Or that illegitimate offspring don't inherit titles. Mr. Trubiano's comment, "royal rules say only one person can be countess at a time" confirms for me that this fellow is clueless. The articles I've seen published about the "contessa" are so full of errors and misinformation that they are painful to read.

[LauraMCS]

Originally Posted by kirstengrafin

Articles about the imaginary contessa still appear in community newspapers in Massachusetts...subsequent articles mention that her title is strictly "honorary".

I'm really amazed that the two "experts" advising this woman don't understand that a countess isn't royal. Or that illegitimate offspring don't inherit titles. Mr. Trubiano's comment, "royal rules say only one person can be countess at a time" confirms for me that this fellow is clueless. The articles I've seen published about the "contessa" are so full of errors and misinformation that they are painful to read.

Dawn Vivo Amore has legally changed her name to Contess Aurora. Her supporters insist that she is a true Contessa and legally entitled to be addressed as such. If she's a Contessa then I'm a Principessa.

Did you ever see "Contessa's" website?

http://contessaaurora.tripod.com/id23.htm

[LauraMCS]

Originally Posted by Toledo

Hi LauraMCS!
I read about it the first time that article came out and seems the story just died out like so many others. Recently I read about a similar case but it involved a lady who found out she was African royalty. It's still interesting to see how a person's life can be changed so drastically from one moment to another one.

Hola Toledo!

I read about the African lady on CNN. Fascinating stuff.

I have no doubt that Dawn Vivo Amore is descended from the Count. I do think most of us can find counts, dukes, princes and kings in our pedigrees if we look for them - I personally found numerous nobles in my own - but I think she is being rather pretentious to use a title that she has no license to use.

At least she is trying to do some good with it.

[kirstengrafin]

Originally Posted by LauraMCS

Dawn Vivo Amore has legally changed her name to Contess Aurora. Her supporters insist that she is a true Contessa and legally entitled to be addressed as such. If she's a Contessa then I'm a Principessa.

Did you ever see "Contessa's" website?

http://contessaaurora.tripod.com/id23.htm

Indeed, the site spells class with a capital K!

Of course, anyone can legally call themselves whatever they like. In the entertainment industry, for example, there's Prince Rogers Nelson, Prince Michael Jackson, Jermajesty Jackson and Countess Vaughn. The Contessa may call herself whatever she likes, but she is not a legitimate countess no matter how much she tries to fabricate "royal rules".

By the way, the Contessa's illegitimate ancestor had nine children, so isn't it amazing that she's the only descendant claiming a title? There ought to be dozens of noble Vivo-Amore-De-Petris-Fraggiannis living in Massachusetts.

[LauraMCS]

Originally Posted by kirstengrafin

Indeed, the site spells class with a capital K!

Of course, anyone can legally call themselves whatever they like. In the entertainment industry, for example, there's Prince Rogers Nelson, Prince Michael Jackson, Jermajesty Jackson and Countess Vaughn. The Contessa may call herself whatever she likes, but she is not a legitimate countess no matter how much she tries to fabricate "royal rules".

By the way, the Contessa's illegitimate ancestor had nine children, so isn't it amazing that she's the only descendant claiming a title? There ought to be dozens of noble Vivo-Amore-De-Petris-Fraggiannis living in Massachusetts.

Obviously, those Vivo-Amore-De Petris-Fragiannis who are aware of their pedigree are also aware of the faux pas of assuming a title that isn't legitimately theirs.

[Toledo]

Oh, LauraMCS, the horror on clicking on that link! There is another one with a picture of hers http://contessaaurora.tripod.com/index.htm
So, is she or is she not? Somehow I also feel intrigued in all the effort she is putting to present herself this way. Too much.

[LauraMCS]

Originally Posted by Toledo

Oh, LauraMCS, the horror on clicking on that link! There is another one with a picture of hers http://contessaaurora.tripod.com/index.htm
So, is she or is she not? Somehow I also feel intrigued in all the effort she is putting to present herself this way. Too much.

I know! The cheesy party good store tiara was too much! Not to mention the misspellings.

I can't see how she is a true Contessa: 1) Italy is now a republic and recognizes no titles at all; 2) women couldn't assume titles in their own right in Italy and 3) the great-grandfather in question was born illegitmately and was never recognized during this own lifetime.

The townspeople may have made Aurora an Honorary Contessa but an honorary title doesn't count for anything. I can't imagine what her motives are but before she discovered her ancestors her life didn't seem that great. Maybe she is trying to reinvent herself.

[Zonk]

Originally Posted by Warren

The Italian State did not come into being until 1861. Before that the Italian peninsula was made up of several countries including:

• Kingdom of Sardinia (Royal House of Savoy; Savoy-Aosta is a sub-branch)
• Kingdom of The Two-Sicilies (Royal House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies)
• Grand Duchy of Tuscany (Imperial House of Habsburg)
• Duchy of Modena (Imperial House of Habsburg)
• Duchy of Parma and Piacenza (Royal House of Bourbon-Parma)
• The Papal States (when the Vatican had a real country)

The Italian Princely Families are generally quite ancient and devolve from the former city states, Duchies and old patrician families.
The situation is no different to that in Germany and Austria where there exist to this day many famillies who were ennobled with a princely title and status centuries ago.

Warren...thanks for the information. I was wondering the same thing about the various royal houses. But I have one more queston...in regards to an heirarchy...are all the houses listed above equal in rank and importance. Also, since Itlay was formed there was/is a King of Italy. Do the royal houses acknowledge that the King is over them..and does the King come from one of the royal houses above? Are they in line to succeed the throne (although I recognize that it doesn't exist).