User:Trudi1981/sandbox

COUNT MARCO PILLA

LOMBARD HERALDIC STORIES OF THE PILLA COUNTS

Pilla

Etymology

The "pilla" in ancient times was a terracotta or concrete container, used mostly to contain water. We find the "pilla" also in the ecclesiastical world, in fact it was used to transport holy water.

I Pilla

The family takes its name from the pilla, belonging to an Oriunda community already present in the seventeenth century, with roots well rooted in what we can now call the province of Pavia. Established merchants bought countless agricultural land to grow the first fruits and then trade them, first of all in the neighboring countries, to move to more distant territories as their wealth grew. Another example of activity carried out by this family was the construction of bricks for the construction of the era, and of the famous "pilla", initially created with terra cotta, to then move on to the primordial cement mortars of the time. This is one of the reasons why we find this ancient family rooted in areas adjacent to rivers, for example in the lower Po valley near the river Po ', where the type of soil, mostly clayey, was better suited to the realization of these artifacts. Although continuously expanding, this family made use of strategic points in the Lombard territory of Piacenza, places as mentioned above suitable for the cultivation and availability of the clay necessary for the construction of the "pilla". Historical sources have allowed us to highlight two areas in particular where they operated, the fiefdoms of Gerrechiozzo, and San Protaso. Gerrechiozzo, is the current Fraction Rotto of Cava Manara, in the province of Pavia, a place adjacent to the river Po, 'where we can still find the primordial farmhouses and land of this ancient family, which are still owned by the Pilla family today. and land purchased thanks to the first fruits trade and the construction of the "pilla", an activity procrastinated over time, as evidenced in the parish documents of Pilla Camillo born in 1818.

Pilla weapon or blazon

As evidence of the great importance of this family, still today inside the church of San Protaso, on the right side adjacent to the central nave, in a small eighteenth-century decorated chapel, scrupulously preserved, as if time had stopped, we can admire the family coat of arms, reproduced in stucco by the "Nobile Conti Pilla", supported by San Mauro Abate, to whom one of the most important churches in Pavia was also dedicated.

Coat of arms that we find reported in the very important manuscript "The ancient families of Piacenza and their coats of arms", scrupulously preserved in the historical archive of Piacenza, in the coat of arms section of the titles of comitals table XV. The Pilla family were awarded by the Duke of Piacenza Ranuccio Farnese II, with a patent letter dated 1674 with the title of "Nobles of Piacenza", and subsequently with the municipal concession to Count Vittorio Pilla. In the fief of San Protaso we still find the remains of what were the possessions of the Pilla family, in particular the Torrione castle, construction dating back to 1300, in possession of the Pilla from 1669 to 1700.

Pilla and parental ties

Esponeti dei Pilla, thanks to their strength and their power, they found important marriage ties, joining also with two very important families of that time, the Alberti, and the Nicelli. Of the Alberti we still find a small village in the mountains of the Po beyond Pavia, on the border with Piacenza, a place where time seems to have stopped, "CASA PILLA", a hamlet of Romagnese (PV), where the historic inhabitants of the village on their identity cards they bear the ancient and important surname "ALBERTI".

Literature

In this noble ancient family we find historical references concerning "Donna Giovanna di Crollalanza" great aunt of the famous writer Araldo di Crollalanza, promoter of the heraldic dictionary "IL Crollalanza".

Don Pilla Giovanni di Vittorio. Protasso 1743

Particular attention goes to him, who is mentioned in the parish registers of Gerrechiozzo, a fiefdom over which the powerful Becaria family ruled, in fact this family had possessions both in Pavia and Piacenza, surely the great nobles Beccaria decided to assign a portion of these lands to a family they know and trust, that's why we find Pilla Giovanni Vittorio di Protaso, mentioned in these writings. Pilla Vittorio descendant of the family of the Pilla counts of Protaso, settled in the territory of Cava, he was probably left only the name of nobleman of the counts, having only the capital D of Dominus as a confirmation, synonymous with nobility, probably for a kinship not in direct line with the primordial Count Pilla, but as a first or second degree nephew of the same. Many collateral branches of this family, such as the Pilla Nicelli counts, or the Pilla Alberti counts, became extinct, but we can probably, after assiduous documented research, affirm that the primordial stock reaches us through the noble of the counts Pilla Giovanni Vittorio 1743, in the person of the nobleman of the counts Marco Pilla 1981, direct descendant of the nobles of the counts Pilla.

Family tree in direct male line

PILLA FABIO 2006 PAVIA

PILLA MARCO 1981 PAVIA

PILLA GIOVANNI 1953 CAVA MANARA

PILLA DUILIO 1927 CAVA MANARA

PILLA MARIO GIOVANNI 1895 CAVA MANARA

PILLA LUIGI 1859 GERRECHIOZZO

PILLA CAMILLO 1818 GERRECHIOZZO

PILLA GIOVANNI ANGELO 1783 GERRECHIOZZO

PILLA GIOVANNI VITTORIO 1743 GERRECHIOZZO AND SAN PROTASO

PILLA GIOVANNI MARIO 1726 SAN PROTASO

PILLA ANTONIO ANGELO DATE OF BIRTH ABSENT

Historical sources

Pilla family municipal and parish archive of Cava Manara Pavia Italy Pilla family of San Protaso Fiorenzuola d’Arda Piacenza Italy, historical archive of the church of San Protaso historical sources, historical archive of Piacenza Itali, Palazzo Farnese, book "The ancient families of Piacenza and their coats of arms"