There is really only one way to properly research Italian heraldry, and it is no different to any other heraldic research, using an actual reference book. So many times we hear from folk who have found something online, and believe it to be what they want to have. One of our favorite sites uses the word "heraldrys" which is complete nonsense, and many of the most popular databases found in America were "researched' by people I actually worked with in the past, none of them with any actual heraldic education, or background. The worst part is that they really didn't care anyway, it was just another job.

 

Taking a look at our photo, you can clearly see that there's no image displayed, but to the trained heraldic artist, each written listing tells the artist exactly what to paint, exactly where to position everything, and the exact color of everything. Obviously the text is in Italian, with an additional hurdle of heraldic words thrown in, however the ability to understand other languages is an important part of the heraldic artist's playbook. As with all heraldic research, the use of d'oro (gold) and d'argento (silver) are not meant to be taken literally, as neither gold or silver were ever used in painting a coat of arms, only yellow and white. Many symbols, such as the "giglio" have their beginnings in ecclesiastical heraldry, as the lily, or fleur de lys in its usual form, was used to symbolize the Christian trinity.

 

Italian heraldry is fascinating in so many ways, the origins of most of the coats of arms in this reference book date to a time when Italy did not exist as an entity. A patchwork of city states, some controlled by powerful families, like the Lombardis, other states strictly overseen by the Church, and yet more areas, particularly in the south of the peninsula, that were basically written off by the powers that were in the north. The use of "canting arms", where a pun would be used on the shield, was very popular in Italy also. For example, the popular name Calvo has one shield with a bald man's head on it. Calvo means bald in Italian, so nobody was shying away from that gem.

 

The coolest part of researching heraldry, in an actual book, is that these volumes of work come from a time when the compiler of the reference work would have to have spent many years putting this all together, without the aid of electricity.