Delle Piane family

File:Delle Piane Coat of Arms 1.Jpg

Fortuna goddess crest of the Delle Piane family.

The splendour of the Delle Piane Family

The Delle Piane are a very ancient and noble Italian family. The branches of the family originated in Val Sturla, Val Polcevera and in Fegino in the region of Liguria. The family was granted a crest with a nobile crown with eight pearls and a fortuna goddess standing on a metal ball holding a ship's sail to symbolise their marine activities. The family recorded a Ligurian genealogy from the 13th century from Giuliano, Giannino, Nicolao, Giacobo and Oberto De Planis De Pulcifera. Oberto De Planis De Pulcifera was the knight of the Doge of Genova from 1360, he was one of the most important founders of the family. Oberto, Giacobo and Antonio De planis (Delle Piane) were also the members of the Republic of Genova's legislative 'Consiglio degli Anziani' (Council of Elders) in the 14th century. The 'consiglio' was founded during Boccanegra's government and it also advised the first 'Capitani del Popolo' (Captains of the people). Antonio Delle Piane di Fegino was also the Abbot of the people of Sestri, Pegli, Arenzano and the podesteria of Voltri from 1404. Several members of the family were educated to take up princely roles and they also registered with the Republic of Genova's royal De Franchi Albergo from 1528, when the aristocratic corporation was reformed by Andrea Doria, the Condottiere, they also registered with the royal Cybo Albergo from 1568. The family was granted a crest with a nobile crown with eight pearls and a fortuna goddess standing on a metal ball holding a ship's sail to symbolise their marine activities. The Delle Piane were also burried in the local churches and in the church of San Cipriano di Serra Ricco.

The Delle Piane family of Liguria is renown for its contributions during the Renaissance period to Ligurian history and to the business environment. Beginning in the 1400s their family businesses included banking, art, water and textiles. Through these business endeavors they achieved nobility status. For 800 years the Delle Pianes were considered as one of the prominent families in Liguria and were recognized as nobility because of their success in business and their wealth. The successful Delle Piane business enterprises elevated the family to the highest social strata. The Ligurian family believed they had a nobiliary and very old latin name and they also constructed some branches of the family tree dating back to the 1200s, the family has some branches and members with the honorary titles of Dominus and of Nobile (aristocracy). The Liber Nobilitatis, a directory of Genoese nobility, included several noble Delle Piane family members. The Delle Piane purchased several Italian noble properties, ville and palazzi in the region of Liguria. The noble Milanese branch of the family also built an important villa in the style of a castle in the medieval period near Bogliasco. The most celebrated member of the family was Giovanni Maria Delle Piane (1660-1745), he was a court painter and he painted for most of the Italian royals including the Bourbons, and Princess Elizabeth Farnese, a personal family friend.

Very ancient branches of the family settled in other places by the Mediterranean, with older genealogies and similar crests. The family also settled in Cadiz and South America, according to genealogical organisations and houses of names. The name of Delle Piane is a very ancient topographic name for someone who lived on the plains or plateaus, it was a locational name 'the dweller at the plains' from a residence or residential place. The name may derive from a manor house held or from working in a religious dwelling. The surname may derive from a place name where the family held lands or from the place from which they had come, or where they actually lived, the name may derive from a place name like 'Le Piane'. The original name is preceded by the nobiliary preposition 'delle'. A related Ligurian spelling of the name is Dellepiane. Honorific Italian titles were also created with the other spellings of the name, in the rare forms of Conte Del Piano of the Contea Del Piano, Barone Del Piano and Barone Della Piana, Palazzo Della Piana (meaning of the lands, landholder). Delle Piane was also rendered in medieval documents in the very ancient form as 'De Planis' from the original latin form of PLANUM (meaning level ground, plain). Several courtiers, members of council of elders, members of noble orders and delegations, literary figures, militarists, generals, financiers, politicians and intellectuals carried the family name.

Notable members

• Oberto De Planis De Pulcifera (Delle Piane), Knight of the Doge of Genova from the 3rd of July 1360 and member of the Council of Elders of the Republic of Genova in 1373 and in 1394, brother of Giacobo De Planis.
• Giacobo De Planis (Delle Piane), Adviser of the Council of Elders of the Republic of Genova from 1382.
• Antonio Delle Piane di Fegino, member of the Council of Elders of the Republic of Genova from 1400 to 1401, Abbot of the people of Liguria from 1404.
• Giovanni Maria delle Piane, leading court painter and friend of Princess Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Spain.
• Giovanni Battista Dellepiane, Apostolic nuncio to Austria, Archbishop of Stauropolis, the friend of Pope John XXIII and buried in the church of Bavari.
• Jose Maria (Giuseppe Maria) Dellepiane (1787-1883), Marine (military) and marine surveyor, participated the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 with the french marines, fortified Montevideo (Uruguay) during its seige in 1843 with Italian legionnaires led by the exiled Giuseppe Garibaldi, related to General Luis Delle Piane.
• Luis Delle Piane, General of the Argentinian army, Civil engineer who did the first geodetic studies of Argentina.
• Carlos Dellepiane (1893-1946), Militarist, General of the Peruvian army, the author of several military books.
• Mariano Dellepiane, Textiles industrialist and manufacturer, horseman and proprietor of the Novi Ligure horse racecourse.
• Gian Marino Delle Piane, Courtier and nobility historian.

Historic buildings

• Villa Cattaneo Dellepiane dell'Olmo, XVII century (Corso Perrone, Cornigliano, Val Polcevera, Genova)
• Villa Delle Piane al Boschetto, XVI-XVII century (Corso Perrone, Cornigliano, Val Polcevera, Genova)
• Palazzo Delle Piane, XVII century (Piazza Delle Piane, Novi Ligure)
• Villa 'Castello' Delle Piane (Bogliasco, Liguria), Milanese branch
• Palazzo Balbi Dellepiane, XVI century (Campomorone, Genova), Luigi Dellepiane
• Villa Delle Piane (Marina di Massa, Tuscany), Comm. Carlo Delle Piane

See also

• Giovanni Maria delle Piane
• Novi Ligure
• Albergo

References

• Albergo (Nobilta Genovese), Albergo (Nobility of Genova), Wikipedia Italiano.
• L'Albo d'Oro delle famiglie Nobili e Notabili Italiane ed Europee, pag. 1860, 1861, 1970s edition by Conte Guelfo Guelfi Camajani.
• Il Libro d'Oro della Nobilta di Genova.
• L'Araldica a Genova, Origini e Significati di una realta storica e sociale, Liguria, Sabatelli editions 1983, by Gian Francesco Bernabo di Negro.
• Genova tra Ottocento e Novecento, Volume 3, New Genovese edition, pag 188.
• Great Encyclopedic Dictionary UTET, Vol. I (A-APO), pag. 528, Third Edition, 1967.
• Italian Encyclopedia Treccani, Vol. II (anglo-Ammi), pag. 161, Edition 1949.
• Grimaldi, Alberghi: Noble Bankers of Genova.
• Mons. Giovanni Dellepiane (Un insigne Genovese nella diplomazia pontificia) by Giuseppe Parodi Domenichi di Parodi.
• Il Novese: 'La Galleria Liberty di Palazzo Delle Piane di Novi Ligure' by Beppe Merlano.
• Fondazione Casa America, Dizionario storico biografico dei Liguri in America Latina da Colombo a tutto il Novecento, Volume 1, pag. 189, 190, 191.
• General Luis J Delle Piane Enrique Pereira, Diccionario biografico nacional de la union cruica radical, October 2007.
• La Accion de Delle Piane Historia, Todo Argentina.
• Fo.s.c.a Fonti per la storia antica d'arte.
• I Duchi di Sangro Lucia Loprione, Genealogie delle famiglie nobili Italiane.
• Delle Piane family board, Ancestry.
• Delle Piane Surname information.