Cifaldi
Originally Ciffaldo, from Crete and Venice to Campolattaro to New York to Hilton Head Island.
In 1924 the Italian Heraldic Office in Florence wrote up a history of the family for Dr. Alessio Cifaldi, then a doctor in New York. It’s part history and part family legend, and some of its dates don’t line up with the history books. It’s still the best account we have. The short version:
- A man named Ciffaldo helps lead the revolt against Venetian rule on Crete, then called Candia.
- Andrea Ciffaldo fights for Venice in the siege of Chioggia against Genoa.
- A Ciffaldo teaches grammar in Chioggia.
- Paolo and Giuseppe Ciffaldo carry cargo along the Adriatic and Dalmatian coasts.
- Giovanni Ciffaldo, a galley captain, runs supplies into besieged Scutari.
- Gioacchino Ciffaldo goes to Ludovico Sforza in Milan as a Venetian agent.
- Ciffaldos sail with the Venetian fleet at Lepanto.
- Antonio Ciffaldo trades out of Termoli. The family moves inland to Benevento, then Campolattaro, where Ciffaldo becomes Cifaldi.
- According to the 1924 report, Cifaldi brothers in Campolattaro raise a band for Garibaldi against the Bourbons.
- Sigismondo and Angelo Cifaldi of Campolattaro are shot by the Italian army, on the other side of that fight, as Bourbon loyalists. How they relate to this family isn’t known.
- Dr. Alessio Cifaldi is born in Campolattaro. He later practices medicine in New York City.
- His son, Paul Alexis Cifaldi I, is born.
Coat of arms
An armored arm and fist holding a steel axe, on an azure field with a red chief, the whole surmounted by a visored steel helmet.
The 1924 document
Transcribed from the original. Obvious spelling and OCR errors are fixed, and the wording is otherwise unchanged.
Page 1
The search for the origin of this family takes us back to the fourteenth century and the island of Candia, now better known as Crete. The island had been conquered by the Venetian State, but the islanders, ever restless and turbulent, had showed reluctance in accepting Venetian rule and were ever riotous.
The imposition of a tax gave an easy pretext for a revolt which broke out suddenly in 1363 and was led by Giorgio Curtasio, Alessio Callergi and a Ciffaldo who is presumed to be the forefather of the Ciffaldi or Cifaldi family.
Venetian ships were sacked and despoiled, the sailors taken prisoners, and the Governor of the island, Leonardo Dandolo, was barely able to save himself. It became necessary therefore for Venice to make preparations for a new and more serious war because the fires of rebellion were kept alive by the Greeks and the Genoese, traditional enemies of Venice.
An armada of 42 galleys, the small warships of the time, was assembled, and in May 1364 it was sent against the island and anchored in the port of Candia, its capital, and an army of six thousand infantry was landed. The Venetian force quickly conquered the city and with ruthless force and repression the entire island was soon put under control. Many of the leaders escaped, but many were taken prisoners. The conquest of the island was accomplished by the summer of 1367 after severe repressive measures had been adopted.
The Ciffaldo of whom we previously spoke was taken prisoner to [text lost at bottom of page].
Page 2
A great rivalry and enmity existed between the two great maritime republics of Genoa and Venice, and for some reverses that Venice suffered on August 16, 1369, Chioggia fell to the Genoese. This was a serious defeat for Venice because it left open the way to the Laguna. The same fate that happened to Chioggia happened to Malamocco, Loreo, Poveglia and San Erasmo, so that one after another all ways of communication for provisioning Venice were closed to them.
Venice, though in fearful straits, did not entirely despair and in the extreme peril resorted to extreme remedies. A forced loan was imposed, fifty galleys were commissioned and armed, and all prisoners were offered amnesty if they fought for the State, among which was Ciffaldi, whose family had come to Venice the year previous.
The supreme command was entrusted to Vittore Pisani. In the fleet there was an Andrea Ciffaldi who we assume must have been a son of the Ciffaldo taken prisoner by the Venetians in Candia.
When all was ready, Pisani made a move toward Chioggia to close all exits from the Laguna by sinking large boats laden with stones at their mouths and so eliminate all possibilities for the Genoese to retreat by sea. Thus the siege of Chioggia was begun.
The vigilant and prudent Venetians refused to engage in open-field warfare and were satisfied to sink boats and intercept provisions. The siege was continued for four months until, on June 24, 1380, the Genoese were compelled by hunger and despair to surrender unconditionally, leaving 4,300 prisoners and 50 galleys.
Andrea Ciffaldo contributed with daring feats to the victory for Venice, which had become his second fatherland, and to which the entire family were ever loyal.
In those times wars followed each other continually and men of quality were more accustomed to the use of the sword more than any other tool.
Page 3
The women cared for the household and never left the house except for going to church.
Commerce in the form of imports and exports flourished in the historic Laguna and brought more than two million ducats yearly to the state. Venice was full of merchant vessels, sailors, rich nobles experienced in government, war leaders and enough prisoners to man one hundred galleys.
At the beginning of the year 1400 we find a Ciffaldo teaching grammar in Chioggia.
The commerce which prospered in Venice had attracted the Ciffaldo family, which had by this time become numerous. Paolo and Giuseppe, probably brothers, ordered a ship built and engaged in the carrying of cargo along the Adriatic coast and the coast of Dalmatia, which was then under Venetian sovereignty and had been for some time.
In time their business prospered and the two Ciffaldos increased the volume of their cargo and pushed toward the coast of Albania but did not wish to venture further because the Levantine area was infested with Turkish pirates.
This shipping enterprise lasted for several years with no indifferent advantage to them. One of the two brothers founded a bank of commercial exchange in the port of Bari, but a raid by the Turks, who landed in large numbers, sacked the town and carried away all Ciffaldos’ merchandise.
The fall of Negroponte, taken by the Turks, prompted Paolo II to make a new appeal to the several Italian states to induce them to help Venice and remove the peril which now seemed to menace the entire Mediterranean area. In 1471 he succeeded in forming an alliance with Milan, Florence and King Ferdinand of Naples. This turned out to be a league in name only, because none of the participants contributed anything except Ferdinand, who sent a token force of ten ships.
Page 4
Venice was thus left practically alone to compete with the fleet of Mohammed II; therefore she was compelled to commission other ships to continue the war.
A Giovanni Ciffaldo, who had shown great ability as a merchant marine captain, was put in command of one of the galleys. The war was not distinguished by splendid episodes or decisive battles. The Venetian forces dwindled in fruitless undertakings. The Turks were harrowing Istria for two years since 1469, this region having suffered sixteen incursions in ninety years.
Some secret information reached Venice that Mohammed II planned to take Scutari in Albania, which belonged to Venice. Giovanni Ciffaldo was promptly sent to Scutari to bring all the provisions he could. This brave captain succeeded in his mission to the extent that he was able to bring to the endangered city enough provisions to enable them to sustain a prolonged siege.
The Mocenigo of Cyprus made a move with his squadron to help the beleaguered city, but his effort accomplished very little and Scutari would certainly have fallen to the Turks if its Venetian governor, Antonio Lodreno (according to Merula), had not had the fortitude to reply to an intimation of surrender: “I am a citizen of Venice and do not know the meaning of surrender.” (1468).
In 1494, Charles VIII came down the Alps through Monginevra to Asti and as far as Piacenza, treating Ludovico Sforza, called the Moor, like a vassal.
Ludovico, realizing his mistake in provoking the incursion of the French into Italy, fearful of the consequences to his Duchy of Milan over which he had been acknowledged legitimate sovereign, tried to divert the King towards Florence, and called for help from Venice against the French and force Charles to return to France.
Page 5
Venice, emerging for the first time from its aloofness, sent agents to the Moro, among whom was a Gioacchino Ciffaldo. These agents were disguised as laborers and brought to Ludovico Sforza offers of friendship and material help. This help was offered with caution and the promises were vague, because the state did not wish to compromise itself with either side, although it realized the need to stop the French who had penetrated into the States of the Church.
Cardinal Battista Zeno, Bishop of Vicenza, reflected the ideas of the Republic when he said that Charles VIII must be made to return at all costs, and in fact after the Battle of Fornovo, which the French lost, Charles VIII recrossed the Alps in retreat.
We are here at the point in history where Christianity had to play its last card in the formidable game against the hated Turk, who was sacking, burning and killing all along the shores of Italy and the Aegean Islands, including Candia and Cyprus, where Venice had some possessions.
One of the greatest and most terrible of naval battles was about to be fought against the infidels, and all who could handle a sword, lance or javelin embarked fanatically on the galleys of the various allies with the assurance that they would once and for all defeat the fatal enemy.
The Ciffaldos also took part in this battle, which is recorded in history as the Battle of Lepanto, and our modern Italy has named one of its most powerful battleships The Lepanto to commemorate this great event.
Don Giovanni of Austria, a natural brother of Philip II, was made commander in chief and Marcantonio Colonna was second in command.
Page 6
In the port of Messina the galleys of the Pope were joined by the fleet of Don Giovanni of Austria and the minor fleets of Genoa, Sicily, Naples, Savoy and Malta.
This great Christian armada consisted of 208 galleys and 30,000 combatants.
On the date of October 6, 1571, the Christian forces sailed for the Gulf of Lepanto, where the Mussulman force commanded by Ali was stationed, and which consisted of 282 vessels, 759 cannons and more than 30,000 men.
At about noon the battle started. The Turks advanced in the form of a half moon, the object being to flank the enemy, but the Venetian navy contingent acting as vanguard, with their artillery, disrupted this maneuver. The battle flared all at once at different points. At the center of the line the battleship commanded by Ali engaged the one commanded by Don Giovanni. Other vessels followed suit on both sides; the impact was formidable and the melee obstinate and ferocious. In the end Ali was killed and his ship seized.
Veniero contributed a good deal to the successful outcome of the fight. This brave man, although wounded and bareheaded, continued to fight fiercely to aid Don Giovanni.
For a while it had seemed that victory would go to the Turks, but the impetuous assault on the leading commanding ship of the Ottomans changed the outcome when the commandant Sciaurah was killed. The joy created by the triumph was saddened, however, by the mortal wounding of Barbarigo, who succumbed the next day, to the sorrow of the entire victorious armada.
In this battle the Christians took 118 Turkish galleys, killed 8,000 men and took more than 40,000 prisoners.
The battle was, however, bought at a very high price.
Page 7
The Christians lost 16 galleys and had 7,500 killed; of these 2,500 were Venetians, and among these, besides Barbarigo, there were 29 high-born gentlemen.
The victory, however, was important because, according to Bonal, the Ottomans had lost the most important attribute of prestige, which is necessary to conquering people and which once lost is hard to regain.
The news of the great victory was brought to Venice ten days later by the galley “ANGEL GABRIEL,” sent by Verniero, and a fitting name for an announcer of good news. On its entry into the port it fired all its guns as a sign of glad tidings. The people, in a delirium of joy, poured into the Piazza in a wholehearted spirit of deep thankfulness. They prostrated themselves in front of the golden Basilica and sang the song of victory and a hymn of thanks to God and their patron St. Mark.
Of the Ciffaldos who took part in this battle, it is not known whether they returned home or were killed on the galleys of Venice.
Venice, in order to help the Christian cause, had exhausted all its resources and it became necessary to appeal to the public to replenish the national treasury. The citizens responded to their utmost ability, even to the point of courting financial disaster.
The family whose history we are weaving returned to commerce, which was ever a source of wealth and prosperity.
An Antonio Ciffaldo established himself in the port city of Termoli, to which the merchandise of the Molise, Larino, Casacalenda and other towns was brought.
With the passing of time and expansion of their trade they came down to Benevento but kept their contact with Termoli.
It cannot be stated exactly when this family came to Campolattaro, previously called Campogattaro.
To follow exactly the genealogy of this family in these later times it would be necessary to go to Campolattaro to consult the local registers and to Benevento to search into the archives of the Episcopal See.
Page 8
It is known that there are some Cifaldis in Benevento.
Of the remaining branch of the family in Campolattaro there were several brothers. During the fight for Italian unification in the middle of the last century, true to their ancient love of liberty and hatred of oppression, some of the Cifaldi brothers organized a revolutionary band to help Garibaldi in his conquest of southern Italy. The revolutionary attempt was premature. Garibaldi was delayed in his march northward from Calabria and the leaders of the abortive attempt against the Bourbons were arrested, shot and their properties confiscated.
The town of Campolattaro is situated on the right bank of the river Tammaro, which runs at the bottom of a deep valley. The town was built on the slopes of a hill and its limits comprise several thousand acres of land under cultivation of cereals, fruit orchards, vineyards and olive groves.
Campolattaro was put to the torch by King Ruggero in 1138, not only in revenge against Count Reinulpo but also because it had been one of the towns which had revolted against him on hearing rumors of his death. These facts are unimportant in the history of the Cifaldi family because they antedate their advent into this region.
The properties in the town were mostly under the control of the Agostini, Cifaldi, Iadanza, Nardoni, Palmieri and other families.
The Ciffaldo family in this section, by corruption of spelling or errors of transcription, became the Cifaldi and were always respected members of the community.
About the middle of the last century, the Cifaldis gradually began to dissipate their wealth by maladministration and waste until they were left with very little and had to turn to earning their own living by learning trades.
Page 9
No more stories of battles on land and sea, no partisans of factions which for a long time ruined Italy; only quiet and uneventful family life.
However, it does not seem that the old spirit of adventure had died in the hearts of the Cifaldis because many have emigrated to America and are scattered in several cities.
One of them, Dr. Alessio Cifaldi, son of Vito, son of Paolo, son of Vito, born in Campolattaro in 1880, is now a respected member of the medical profession in New York City, hoping to renew the prestige of the family.
Coat of Arms
Armored arm and fist holding a steel axe, on azure field with red heading, the whole surmounted by visored steel helmet.
The director of the Italian Heraldic Office
Count G. Guelfi Camajani
Florence, September 25, 1924