Where the Castiglione surname comes from
Castiglione comes from the Latin castellionem, from castellum, “castle.” It meant a fortified place, a small stronghold on a hilltop guarding the valley. Whoever lived next to that castle, or came from a town by that name, became “the one from Castiglione.”
In Italy there are dozens of towns called Castiglione, from Sicily to the Alps. That’s why the surname was born many times, in distant regions, among families with no ties to one another.
A book that conquered Europe
In the 1500s a Castiglione from the Mantua area wrote one of the defining books of the Italian Renaissance. A century later a Genoese painter with the same surname filled his canvases with animals, and may have invented a new printmaking technique. The PDF tells who they were, and why their name has come down to us.
Where the Castigliones live today
Castiglione is a surname of all Italy, with its heart in Sicily. There are about 2,800 families in Italy. The strongest line is on the island, and in Custonaci, near Trapani, it is the most common surname in town. Large groups also live in Campania, Lombardy, Piedmont and Lazio. The great emigration of the late 1800s and early 1900s took a great many of them overseas. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached are in the PDF.
Variants
Castiglioni, the plural, is the typical northern form. Castiglia looks very similar but has a different story: the PDF explains why.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Castiglione | Sicily, Campania, Lombardy |
| Castiglioni | Lombardy, Emilia, Piedmont |
| Castiglia | Sicily, Campania, Lombardy |
FAQ
What does the Castiglione surname mean?
It comes from the Latin castellionem, from castellum, “castle.” It named someone who lived near a stronghold or came from one of the many towns called Castiglione.
Is Castiglione a Sicilian surname?
Largely, yes. The strongest line is in Sicily, where it is among the island’s top two hundred surnames and in Custonaci it ranks first. It is found all over Italy, though, because there are dozens of towns called Castiglione.
Are Castiglione and Castiglioni the same surname?
They come from the same word, “castle.” Castiglioni is the plural form, typical of the North and above all of Lombardy. In old registers the same family can appear with both spellings.
Are all Castigliones related?
No. The surname was born in many different places, each with its own castle. Two Castiglione families, even in the same town, aren’t necessarily related. To trace your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Castiglione surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t indicate nobility: it comes from a place name. Some Castiglione families, in Lombardy and in Sicily, had a coat of arms, but most never did.
Is there a Castiglione family coat of arms?
By tradition, some branches bore a lion holding a castle with three towers. It was the coat of arms of those specific houses. There is no coat of arms for all the Castigliones.
