Where the Polizzi surname comes from
Polizzi is a place surname: it comes from Polizzi Generosa, the town in the Madonie mountains in the province of Palermo. Whoever left it for another town carried its name along: he was “the one from Polizzi.” The town’s name in turn comes from the Greek polis, “city.” In Sicilian the town is still called Pulizzi.
Knights, marquises and a New York street
From the 1300s a noble Polizzi family appears in the records of Sicily, with knights and titled branches. In the early 1900s, on the other hand, a street in Manhattan filled up with emigrants who had left from Polizzi itself. Martin Scorsese has told this story speaking of his grandparents, who were born in that town. Their stories are in the PDF.
Where the Polizzis live today
Polizzi is a Sicilian surname: there are about 2,100 families in Italy, and more than eight out of ten live on the island. They are concentrated in western and central Sicily, from the Palermo area to the Caltanissetta area. The town where it is the most common surname is Giardinello, in the province of Palermo. It reached the North and Lazio with the emigration of the 1900s. Outside Italy the largest community is in the United States. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world where they settled are in the PDF.
Variants
Only a few forms were born from the same name, with a suffix or with the Sicilian spelling of the town. The PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Polizzi | Sicily, Lombardy, Piedmont |
| Polizzotto | Sicily, Lombardy |
| Polizzotti | Sicily, Lombardy |
FAQ
What does the surname Polizzi mean?
“The one who comes from Polizzi”: it marked someone who came from Polizzi Generosa, in the Madonie mountains. The town’s name comes from the Greek polis, “city.”
Is Polizzi a Sicilian surname?
Yes. More than eight out of ten Polizzis live in Sicily, mostly between the Palermo and Caltanissetta areas; it reached the North with the emigration of the 1900s.
Are Polizzi and Pulizzi the same surname?
They have the same origin: Pulizzi, with a u, follows the Sicilian name of the town. Until the 1800s the surname was written by whoever kept the register, and the same family may appear in both forms.
Did the town take its name from the Polizzi family?
No. Some have written so, but historians say the opposite. The town’s name is much older: it was the family that took its name from the town.
Are all Polizzis related?
No. Over the centuries many different families left the same town. To rebuild your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Polizzi surname noble?
In Sicily there is a noble Polizzi family, documented from the 1300s, with branches of barons and marquises. But farmers, shepherds and craftsmen also left the same Polizzi: the surname alone doesn’t mean nobility.
Is there a Polizzi family coat of arms?
There is no coat of arms for the surname. The marquises of Sorrentino and the barons of Pizzuto had their own arms, but they were theirs, not those of every Polizzi.
Does Martin Scorsese have roots in Polizzi?
Yes: his paternal grandparents were born in Polizzi Generosa. The director has told how the emigrants from the town had all moved to the same street in Manhattan.
