If you’ve got the name di Berto/DiBerto in your ancestry and you know they’re from Civitaquana – we’re related! This is another one of the families where I’ve traced everybody with that name down to one individual, thanks to the civil and church records. The di Berto’s all come from my 6th-great-grandparents:
Nicola di Berto (1737-1817) & Santa Diodati (1737-1803)
Check out the 1797 census record for them:
In the house of Nicola di Berto:
Niccola di Berto – b: 3 Mar 1737
Santa di Giacomo Diodati moglie di detto – b: 20 Mar 1737
– Gio. Battista figlio di detti – b: 6 Feb 1764
– Francesco Paolo figlio di detti – b: [abt. 9 Jan 1766]
– Egidio Giustino Serafino figlio di detti – b: 16 Nov 1767
– Anna Rosa figlia di detti – b: 8 Feb 1771
– Federico figlio di detti – b: 30 Aug 1773
– Sabatino figlio di detti – b: 13 Apr 1776
– Dorotea figlia di detti – b: 6 Jan 1780
Laura di Antonio di Nardantonio moglie di detto Gio. Battista – b: 3 Apr 1764
– Concetta figlia di detti – b: 4 Sep 1788
– Anna Saveria figlia di detti – b: 24 Jan 1790
– Felice Antonio figlio di detti – b: 31 Mar 1792, d: 6 May 1794
– Felice Antonio figlio di detti – b: 2 Nov 1795
– Massimo Antonio figlio di detti – b: 19 Aug 1798
– Domenica figlia di detti – b: 29 Mar 1801
Marta di Vincenzo di Nicola di Marco di Gregorio moglie del sudetto Egidio – b: 17 Nov 1778
– Domenica Antonia Camilla figlia di detti – b: 24 Dec 1797
– Camilla figlia di detti – b: 31 Oct 1799
Here is the family of the oldest daughter Anna di Berto (not to be confused with Anna Rosa di Berto) and her husband Giovan Battista Ranalli, living with his uncle Giuseppe Ranalli (also related to me!):
Gio. Battista figlio del qm. Gennaro Ranalli, e di Vittoria di Giacinto Palumbo nipote di Giuseppe Ranalli – b: 31 May 1761
Anna di Niccola di Berto moglie di detto – b: 25 May 1758
– Domenico Antonio figlio di detti – b: 3 Dec 1783
– Angela Domenica figlia di detti – b: 3 Jun 1787
– Maria figlia di detti – b: 25 Sep 1788
– Luciano Antonio figlio di detti – b: 13 Dec 1791
– Antonio figlio di detti – b: 14 Mar 1796
– Rosaria figlia di detti – b: 31 Mar 1799
Next is the family of the second oldest child Anna Rosa di Berto and her husband Girolamo Trabucco, living with his father Sigismondo Trabucco:
Sigismondo di Donato Trabucco – b: 8 Jan 1708, d: 23 Feb 1800
Anna di Diomede Caroso moglie di detto – b: 23 Dec 1723, d: 17 Mar 1794
– Evangelista figlio di detti – b: 4 Jun 1745
– Preziosa figlia di detti – b: 28 Mar 174?, d: 11 Nov 1799
– Dorotea figlia di detti – b: 27 Sep 1757
– Girolamo figlio di detti – b: 5 Sep 1760
…
Anna Rosa di Nicola di Berto moglie di detto Girolamo di Sigismondo Trabucco – b: 8 Feb 1771
– Camillo figlio di detti – b: 23 Aug 1792
– Dorotea figlia di detti – b: 6 Feb 1795
– Maria Camilla figlia di detti – b: 16 Jan 1798, d: 29 Apr 1799
– Maria Amalia figlia di detti – 23 Jul 1800
So all di Berto’s in Civitaquana will lead you back to one of Nicola’s sons: Giovanni Battista, Egidio, or Federico. Now, where did Nicola di Berto come from? There are a few records that I’ve tried to make some sense of, since they all kind of say something different.
His death record is:
Civitaquana #124 Filed 29 Decembre 1817
Name: Nicola di Berto, 86, contadino, figlio di Liberto, e Sembronica Matano
Death: 29 Decembre 1817
Witness: Donato di Gregorio, 62, contadino
Witness: Egidio di Berto, 42, contadino
Sindaco: Giuseppe Galeazzi
Their marriage record is:
11 Maii 1755 Civitaquanae
Nicolaus Sinphoroniae de Profio, et Sancta Jacobi de Diodato
The name “Sinphoronia” is similar to “Sembronica”, and it’s interesting that his mother is listed but not his father. In fact, the last name “di Berto” isn’t even mentioned in this record, but all the context pretty much confirms this is the same couple.
Above is the marriage record of Nicola di Berto’s parents, and even here we see different names:
A di 25 Gennaio 1734
Joannes Bat.ta Bartoli Terrae Vicuarii Diocesi Tiuoli, et Simpronia de Proffio
And the death record for Nicola di Berto’s father:
A 26 Settembre 1768
Giambattista Bartoli marito di Sembronia di Profio, nativo lo stesso di Vicuaro, mori d’anni settantatre in circa
Some further research (and help from folks on ItalianGenealogy.com…thanks!) has shown that “Vicuaro, in the diocese of Tivoli” is the town of Vicovaro, province of Lazio, near Rome. All of these records would point towards Giovanni Battista Bartoli (b. abt. 1695 in Vicovaro) came to Civitaquana and married Sempronia di Profio (b. abt. 1705 in Civitaquana). They had one surviving son, Nicola (b. 3 Mar 1737 in Civitaquana), whose last name sort of evolved from “Bartoli” to “di Berto”. Nicola married Santa Diodati in 1755 and they had their 6 surviving children as shown in the census records above. It’s been exciting to be able to trace all families of a particular last name back to one individual, especially if that individual is originally not from the town. I certainly would not have been able to do this without the thousands of records I picked up while in Italy several months ago!
Are you a di Berto? Or can you trace your ancestry in Civitaquana back to someone married to a di Berto? If so, I hope this helped, and I’d be interested to hear from you! Feel free to email me at anthony.sacco13@gmail.com to share your Civitaquana discoveries or with any other Pescara-related inquiries.
– Anthony
