Family History

This illustrious lineage of royal descent originated in the Iberian Peninsula. It boasts of the first descendant of a certain Roderico, or Rodolico in the corrupted form, the last king of the Visigoths of Spain, son of the Duke of Cordova, who had his eyes gouged by order of King Vitiza. Roderico, in order to avenge his father, attacked Vitiza, defeated him and took away his crown in 710 A.D. The children of the dethroned king formed an alliance with Count Giuliano, Governor of Centa, and summoned assistance from the Arabs of Africa. The Arabs, led by Tarik, defeated Rodolico at Xeres de la Frontera, and Rodolico died in battle in 711. The children of Rodolico, who were named Enrico, Paolo, Salvatore and Gaspare, volunteered their military services to King Desiderius of the Longobards in the year 757, and they were very valiant leaders in the army, distinguishing themselves in the battle of Monara, where Charlemagne captured and imprisoned his father-in-law Desiderius, and locked him in a castle in France where he died.

From now on we see the Rodolicos offering their services under the following kings of Italy: Charlemagne, Pepin, Bernhard and Lotherio, who were crowned in Monza; then they served under Berengarius II, Adalbertus, Otto II, Arduin, Otto IV, Frederick II, Henry VI, Frederick III, and Charles V, and under the descendants of this King of Spain, and finally under the emperors of Austria, namely until 1796, always holding a high rank in the army, and the most important public offices. Under Charles V, we see the Rodolicos go down to Sicily, where they established residence in the following cities: Palermo, Messina, Catania, Trapani, Girgenti, and Monte San Giuliano, and from this family many illustrious gentlemen originated, such as the attorneys Cristoforo, Paolo, and Giacomo. In the Arabic Collection at the Congrega del Purgatorio in Partanna there exists a file on Vincenzo Rodolico.

Researched by Professor Giovanni Interlandi, Sicily.

This illustrious family crest was inherited by Joseph Rodolico of Brooklyn New York, from Giacomo Rodolico of Trapani, Sicily.

Translated into english by Professor Rachel Duke, the University of New Mexico.

This english translation presented to the descendants of the Rodolico Family by Dr. Michael Paul Rodolico and his daughter Maisie Rodolico of Albuquerque New Mexico in December 1992.