The Secretariat General of the Delegation for Naples and Campania of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George has released its calendar of meetings in March 2024, including the one in preparation for Holy Week.

Saturday, 9 March 2024 at 10 am at the State Archives of Naples (Piazzetta Grande Archivio 5, Sala Catasti, Naples) 

Presentation of the book The predicates of the Italian nobility. With an annex of the general list of predicates of the Italian nobility. Proceedings of the Ninth Conference on Nobility Law held online on 14 May 2020. Proceedings of the Tenth Conference on Nobility Law held online on 25 June 2021 (Pisa University Press 2024, 712 pages), edited by the late Prof. Antonio Palma, compiled by Demetrio Baffa Trasci Amalfitani di Crucoli, Giovanni Chianese, Emilio della Fontanazza, Fausto Giumetti, and Riccardo Scarpa, with the contribution of Andrea Borella, Director and Publisher of the Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana.

The topics covered in the conferences were feudal predicates and honorific predicates. These legal themes were addressed from the various angles of nobility law and civil and constitutional law, as well as with reference to surnames. The volume complements the General List of Predicates of the Italian Nobility, the first to be drawn up and published since 1903.

The event will begin with greetings from Candida Carrino, Director of the State Archives of Naples. Speakers will include: Gennaro Famiglietti, Consul General of the Republic of Bulgaria; Fra’ Sergio Galdi di Aragona, General Commissioner of the Holy Land, Chaplain of Justice; Bitti Cattaneo della Volta, Teacher; Giovanni Chianese, Jurist; Fabio Pignatelli della Leonessa, Architect; Demetrio Baffa Trasci Amalfitani di Crucoli, Consultant to the Yearbook of the Italian Nobility; Andrea Borella, Director and Publisher of the Yearbook of the Italian Nobility.

The moderator will be Emilio della Fontanazza, compiler of the volume and an expert in noble law, as well as former professor at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University.  Among those who will be present are: Antonio Tarasco, General Director of Archives and Andrea De Pasquale, Director General of Education, Research and Cultural Institutions.

Antonio Palma

Antonio Palma, who edited the volume and who passed away in 2023, was a full professor of Institutions of Roman Law at the University of Naples Federico II, a professor of Roman Law at the School of Higher Education of the University of Rome La Sapienza and the University of Florence, President of the State Printing and Mint Institute, professor of Roman public law, Roman law and the history of Roman law since 1979, associate professor since 1988, then full professor since 1994 of the History of Roman Law and Institutions of Roman Law at the Faculty of Law of the University of Salerno.

He is the author of numerous essays and monographs, including: The public “curae”. Studies on Roman administrative structures (Naples, 1980); Iura vicinitatis. Solidarity and limitations in the neighbourly relationship in Roman law of the classical age (Turin 1988); Humanior interpretatio. “Humanitas” in the interpretation and standardization from Hadrian to Severus (Turin, 1992); Benignior interpretatio. Benevolence in jurisprudence and regulation from Hadrian to Severus (Turin, 1997); Justice and common sense (Turin, 2006); Writings on Roman law (Naples, 2011); and The place of rules. Reflections on the Roman civil trials (Turin, 2016).

Nobility and noble titles in Italy

(The following is taken from the writings of Raffaele Coppola)

With the advent of the Republic in Italy in 1946, the public relevance of noble status and Italian noble titles substantially disappeared, although it is necessary to distinguish between the noble status of an individual or a family and the noble title of an individual or a family.

This distinction is relevant both from a historical and juridical point of view, as normally the different noble systems of the Kingdom of Italy, of the pre-unification states, and of foreign states have always recognized the noble status inherent in an individual or family, which public authorities can or could recognize, but could not confer, as a status proper to the person, independent of the will of others (that is to say, an individual is honest, and is so regardless of any public or private recognition, and conversely he cannot become honest merely because he is declared so by any authority). In contrast, the noble title is or was normally the result of a concession by a sovereign, as it is linked to the assignment of a specific function or a specific task, or a public manifestation of merit granted by the sovereign authority. It goes without saying that if a sovereign recognizes or has recognized an unworthy individual as noble, it can be quite complicated to contest this recognition.

In Italy, however, the advent of the Republic also led to the drafting of a new Constitution, the “XIV transitional provision” of which states:

“Noble titles are not recognised.

The predicates of titles existing before October 28, 1922 count as part of the name.

The Heraldic Council is hereby suppressed.” 

(XIV transitional provision of the Italian Constitution, paragraphs 1-2, and 4).

Therefore, since the entry into force of the constitution of the Italian Republic (1 January 1948), noble titles have lost any public relevance in Italy; mind you, they are not prohibited, they are simply not recognized, that is, they are not protected or regulated and they are legally irrelevant. It follows that from a legal point of view every Italian can lawfully attribute to himself any noble title he wishes, without committing any crime, but at the risk of possibly covering himself with ridicule. The only form of protection that remains is that relating to “noble predicates” (example: Rossi di Vallelupa), which under certain conditions can be recognized and become part of the surname.

It should be noted, however, that the constitutional “provision” does not mention noble status (as opposed to noble titles), leaving some interpretative uncertainty.  In fact since it is not mentioned, noble status cannot be said to be denied, and formally – unlike what happened with noble titles – it is not even explicitly indicated as irrelevant; and even the claim for equality among all Italian citizens is not in conflict with the noble status of an individual or a family, where this status does not give rise to discrimination in treatment of any kind and in any area, as in fact is the case today. In this framework there are those who maintain that individual and family noble status can still be the object of public recognition and protection, especially in the cases of individuals (now few) or families who had already been recognized as nobles by the State (under monarchy), especially since the public body called upon to manage these recognitions (the Heraldic Council mentioned in the aforementioned XIV provisional provision of the Italian Constitution) to date has not been formally abolished, but is only no longer renewed (Raffaele Coppola, Heraldic Newsletter).

Sunday 10 March 2024, 10.30 am at

Magistral Chapel and seat of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order in Naples – Church of San Giuseppe dei Nudi, Naples

The Chief Chaplain Father Sergio Galdi di Aragona, OFM, General Commissioner of the Holy Land, Constantinian Chaplain of Justice, will hold a meditation on Easter. Holy Mass will then be celebrated.

Given the previous large participation in the small Easter spiritual exercises last year and the heartfelt welcome and interest that the Chief Chaplain’s words met with, the Delegation of Naples and Campania deemed it useful and appropriate to repeat again this year this meeting of a highly spiritual nature and of high educational value, with the hope that it can become an established tradition.