Where the Rizzo surname comes from
Rizzo comes from a nickname. In the dialects of the South and of Veneto, rizzo meant “curly.” It was said of someone whose hair was frizzy or stood straight up on the head, but also of a sharp temper, one that stung like a hedgehog (riccio in Italian).
It’s the same nickname that gave Ricci in central and northern Italy. In the South and in Veneto it stayed closer to the dialect, in the singular. That’s why the surname has no single founder: it was born in many different towns.
From the Doge’s Palace to the sea off Premuda
The surname appears in fifteenth-century Venice, next to one of the most famous staircases in Italy. Centuries later a Rizzo from Milazzo, in command of a small motorboat, pulled off a feat that went down in the history of the Navy. Their stories are in the PDF.
Where the Rizzos live today
Rizzo is a surname of the South, with its heart in Sicily and Apulia. There are about 19,400 families in Italy, and there is a large group in Veneto as well. The city where it is number one is Lecce, the “Florence of the South.” In the North and in Lazio you’ll find it wherever Sicilians and Apulians emigrated in the 1900s. The region-by-region map and the countries around the world where they settled are in the PDF.
Variants
Dozens of surnames were born from the word for curly, with different forms in the South, the North and the Salento. The PDF explains where each one comes from.
| Surname | Where it is concentrated |
|---|---|
| Rizzo | Sicily, Apulia, Veneto |
| Rizzi | Lombardy, Apulia, Veneto |
| Riccio | Campania, Lazio, Piedmont |
| Rizzuto | Sicily, Calabria |
| Rizzello | Apulia |
| Rizzotti | Veneto, Lombardy, Sicily |
FAQ
What does the surname Rizzo mean?
“The curly one.” It was the nickname of someone with frizzy hair, or a prickly temper. Passed down to the children, it became the family’s name.
Is Rizzo a Sicilian or an Apulian surname?
Both. Sicily is the region where it is most common. In Apulia it is among the region’s top surnames, and in Lecce it is number one. It also has a large group in Veneto.
Are Rizzo and Ricci the same surname?
They have the same origin, the nickname for curly hair. Rizzo is the form of the South and of Veneto, Ricci that of central and northern Italy. In old records the same family may appear under different forms.
Are all Rizzos related?
No. In thousands of towns there was someone called “il rizzo,” and two Rizzo families almost always have no ties. To rebuild your own story you need birth records and parish registers.
Is the Rizzo surname noble?
The surname itself doesn’t mean nobility. It comes from a popular nickname. The archives record a noble Rizzo family in Campania, but the great majority of Rizzos never had titles.
Is there a Rizzo family coat of arms?
Some noble branches had their own coat of arms, but it belonged only to them. No single coat of arms belongs to every Rizzo, because the surname was born in many different places.
Is Marracash’s real name Rizzo?
Yes. The rapper Marracash, born in Nicosia in 1979, is registered as Fabio Rizzo. He is one of the Rizzos who left their mark, and the PDF tells his story.
