Giorgi family

The Giorgi or Zorzi were a noble family of the Republic of Venice and the Republic of Ragusa.[1]^{:I: 54}[2]

Giorgi de Georgiis De Giorgi Juric/Jurici Đurđević Georgi Georgio Zorzi Žurgović
Country	Republic of Ragusa Republic of Venice
Estate(s)	Palazzo Giorgi, Dubrovnik
Cadet branches	House of Giorgi-Bona House of Giorgi-Pozza

History

Tradition links the Zorzi to the origins of the city of Venice. In 1817, Antonio Longo wrote that they came from Moravia and Silesia; entered Italy in 411 AD and took up residence at Pavia; and after the invasion of Attila in 453 AD were among the founders of Venice.[3]

The Almanach de Gotha[4] enumerates it among the eleven oldest native families of the Republic of Ragusa,[5][6] and members of the family were still living in the city in the 19th century.[7]

The first documented mention of the family dates from the tenth century: in 964 Gregorio di Andrea de Georgii was bishop of the island of San Pietro di Castello, formerly known as Olivolo, in the Venetian Lagoon.[2][8]

It has been suggested that the Giorgi came to Ragusa either from Rome[9] or from Kotor.[1]^{:I: 58}

The island of Curzola has been a fiefdom of the family since 1254.[10]

The Ragusan branches

Over the centuries, the Giorgi were divided into several branches in Italy and abroad, merging with other noble families of Dubrovnik and continental Europe. A branch of the family joined its name and arms to those of the Bona family, creating a new branch as Giorgi-Bona.[1]^{:III: 71}

The Giorgi were among the important families of the Republic of Ragusa, serving in the 14th and 15th centuries in 6.50% of all major public offices.[11]^:51 Between 1440 and 1640 the Giorgi had 109 members of the Great Council, representing 4.95% of the total.[11]^:54 In the two hundred years, they also count for 203 senators (6.21%), 163 rectors of the Republic (6.84%),[11]^:60 173 representatives in the minor council (6.33%) and 41 guardians of justice (4.99%).

People

Members of the family include:

• Marino di Matteo Zorzi (1231–1312), governor of the Republic of Ragusa, later Doge of Venice[2]
• Niccolò di Francesco Zorzi (15th century), Venetian ambassador to Pope Martin V[2]
• Marco di Bertucci Zorzi (mid-15th century), Venetian military commander and ambassador to France[2]
• Giorgio di Giovanni Zorzi, born 1582, Venetian ambassador to France and Poland[2]
• Pier Antonio Zorzi (1745–1803), 5th Archbishop of Udine, cardinal[2]

The Ragusan poet Ignjat Đurđević (Ignazio Giorgi) did not belong to this family, but to another ennobled a few years before his birth in 1675.[12]^:145

Gallery

• 
  Count Savino de Giorgi
• 
  Maria Giorgi-Pozza tomb, Dubrovnik
• 
  Palazzo Giorgi, Dubrovnik
• 
  Nineteenth-century copper engraving of Marino Zorzi

Various coats-of-arms of the family. The last one is the branch of House of Bona-Giorgi.

See also

• Zorzi
• List of people from Dubrovnik

References

1. Konstantin Jireček (1984–1986) L'eredità di Roma nelle città della Dalmazia durante il medioevo (in Italian). Atti e Memorie della Società dalmata di storia patria, volumes IX, X, XI. Roma: Società Dalmata di Storia Patria.
2. Zorzi (in Italian). Enciclopedie online. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2017.
3. Antonio Longo (1817). Dell'origine e provenienza in Venezia de' cittadini originarj (in Italian). Venexia: Tipografia Gasali.
4. Almanach de Gotha 1763/1785 bis 1944 by Justus Perthes Verlag
5. Ragusan Archives Document: "Speculum Maioris Consilii Rectores", showed 4397 rectors elected between September 1440 to June 1806; 2764, (63 %) were from eleven "old patrician" families: Gozze, de Bona, de Caboga, Cerva, de Ghetaldi,de Giorgi(slavic Juric/Jurici), Gradi, Pozza, Saraca, Sorgo and Zamanya. A list of Ragusa's governing bodies in 1802 showed 3 that 6 of the 8 Minor Council, and 15 of 20 Grand Council members were from the same 11 families.
6. Helias and Blasius De Radoano: Ragusa Merchants in the Second Half of the 14th Century by Barisa Krekic." In February 1378 Blasius and ser Lucas de Bona had appointed two Venetians and a Ragusan" page 408
7. Dubrovnik Under French Rule (1810–1814) by Stjepan Cosic/ hrcak.srce.hr/file/12648."Court of First Instance in Dubrovnik, over which Niko Pozza presided.In Dubrovnik, Ston, and Cavtat, Ivan Bona, Frano Liepopilli, and Nikola Facenda operated as justices of the peace" (page 113).
8. Mario Brunetti (1937). Zorzi (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed February 2017.
9. Giorgio Gozzi, La libera e sovrana Repubblica di Ragusa 634-1814, Volpe Editore, Roma 1981
10. Antonio Renato Toniolo, Umberto Nani, B. F. T., Giuseppe Praga, Adolfo Venturi (1931). Dalmazia (in Italian). Enciclopedia Italiana. Rome: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana. Accessed May 2017.
11. Zdenko Zlatar (2002). "Huius... est omnis Rei Publicae potestas": Dubrovnik's patrician houses and their participation in power (1440–1640). Dubrovnik Annals (6): 45–65.
12. Šime Ljubić (Simeone Gliubich) (1856). Dizionario biografico degli uomini illustri della Dalmazia (in Italian). Vienna: Rod. Lechner.

Further reading

• Francesco Maria Appendini (1803). Notizie istorico-critiche sulle antichità storia e letteratura de' Ragusei. Ragusa: Dalle stampe di Antonio Martecchini.
• Renzo de 'Vidovic (2004). Albo d'Oro delle famiglie nobili patrizie e illustri nel Regno di Dalmazia. Trieste: Cultural Scientific Foundation Rustia Traine.
• Robin Harris (2006). Dubrovnik: A History. London: Saqi Books. ISBN 9780863569593.
  • translated as: Robin Harris, Alessandro Sfrecola (translator) (2008). Storia e vita di Ragusa – Dubrovnik, la piccola repubblica adriatica. Treviso: Editrice Santi Quaranta. ISBN 9788886496834.