Where the Landolina surname comes from
Landolina comes from a personal name: Lando, with its diminutive Landolo. It was a Germanic name brought to Italy by the Lombards, from the root land-, “land, country.” Landolina means “little Lando,” the son or descendant of a man who bore that name.
A Norman tradition
An old tradition of nobility surrounds the surname, tying it to the Norman conquest of Sicily and to a barony in the Syracuse area. The old heraldic collections trace the family tree back even further, all the way to one of Europe’s ruling houses. The PDF tells what is documented history and what is family legend.
Where the Landolinas live today
Landolina is a Sicilian surname, and an uncommon one: about 900 people carry it in Italy. Almost all of them live in eastern Sicily, around Syracuse, Noto, Avola and the Catania area. Small groups in Lombardy, Piedmont, Lazio and Liguria came with the migrations of the 1900s. The PDF has the region-by-region map and the countries around the world they reached.
Variants
The PDF records no common variants of the Landolina surname.
FAQ
What does the surname Landolina mean?
It means “little Lando.” It comes from the personal name Lando and its diminutive Landolo, a name of Germanic origin brought to Italy by the Lombards.
Is Landolina a Sicilian surname?
Yes. Almost all Landolinas live in eastern Sicily, in the Syracuse and Catania areas. The families in the North and in Lazio arrived with the migrations of the 1900s.
Is the Landolina surname noble?
A noble Landolina family lived in Sicily, linked by old traditions to the Normans. Not every Landolina descends from it: many branches simply come from the personal name Landolo.
Is it true that the Landolinas descend from the Habsburgs?
No. Descent from an ancestor shared with the House of Habsburg is a legendary genealogy, built long ago to ennoble the family. It should be read as legend, not as history.
Are all Landolinas related?
No. Sharing a surname doesn’t make people relatives: those who carry it come from different families and branches. To trace your own family’s story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is there a Landolina family coat of arms?
Sicilian heraldry collections describe the arms of a noble Landolina family. But those were the arms of that one house: no single coat of arms belongs to every Landolina.
How many Landolinas are there in Italy?
About 900 people, almost all in Sicily. Worldwide there are about 1,200: the rest are descendants of Sicilian emigrants who left in the 1800s and 1900s.
Where do you start searching for Landolina ancestors?
From the family’s exact town. In Sicily civil records begin in 1820; before that, you look for traces in the parish registers, where baptisms and marriages were recorded.
