Simonetti family

The Simonetti family is an Italian noble family with origins in Tuscany. During the 12th Century different branches in Florence, Lucca, Pistoia and Pescia developed. Other famous branches of this family were established in Jesi, Milan and Bologna.

Members of this family have held different titles since the Middle Ages, among them: Lords of Jesi, Princes of Musone, marquis in the kingdom of Naples and Rome, counts in the kingdom of Italy and Bologna, senators of Rome and the Kingdom of Italy. The Simonetti also held positions in the Republic of Florence and the Republic of Lucca, among them priori of the signoria, gonfaloniere, captains, members of the council of the elders and the leadership of the Guelph party.

Origin of the family

According to Eugenio Gamurrini and Ludovico Jacobilli the Simonetti from Jesi, Lucca, Florence, Osimo, Cingoli, Terni and Milan had a single origin. Gamurrini linked the Florentine branch of the family to medieval Lucca but could not find the common ancestor that linked the Simonetti from Tuscany to the Simonetti from Jesi. He pointed to other facts that indicated the connection and the earlier research done by Jacobilli. According to Jacobilli the Simonetti branches were all descendants of a single line of Lombard barons that held fiefs in central Italy. Gamurrini in his Istoria genealogica delle famiglie nobili Toscane et Umbre studied manuscripts that linked the Simonetti of Milan, Lucca and Florence to Teuprando, a Lombard lord living in Lucca and a descendant of Aripert I, King of the Lombards (see Bavarian Dynasty). Other noble families from Lucca also recognized Teuprando as their ancestor, including the Rolandinghi, Soffredinghi, and Opezinghi. All these families held control of vast areas in the Garfagnana region and held castles around the Lombard city of Barga.