Page 128 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

128 from Italy to the Canary Islands

Historical excursus of a dynasty

fter this broad introduction, we can finally speak
analytically about the Malocello family.
The first problem concerns the name and
place of origin of the family, as Russo (Sulle origini
e la costituzione della “Potestativa Varaginis
Cellarum et Arbisolae” [On the origins and the
founding of the “Potestativa Varaginis Cellarum
et Arbisolae”] Savona 1908, page 80) states that
they came from Polcevera.
We can actually safely say that the Malocello
family are natives of Celle; this is proved by at
least two factors: the emblem of the coat of arms
of the Municipality of Celle is still, even today, an
owl called “uccello di malaugurio” (bird of ill omen) Celle Ligure
in ancient times, as it was a predator, nocturnal mostly, coat of arms.
in an era in which (with no electric lighting) nighttime was a
more piercing darkness than we people from the 21 century could ever
st
imagine. The contraction of the word in Medieval Italian was therefore
“malus uccellus”, giving the name Malocello and the coat of arms itself of
the family, represented, indeed, by an owl; the root itself of the surname
Malocello is “cello”, thus clearly referring to the name of the Commune of
Celle. Even if as many as eleven consuls are found between 1114 and 1240
in the annals of the Commune of Genoa, and even though a gravestone
from 1156 remembers Giovanni Malocello as consul of Genoa, we really
ought to start our study with Enrico Malocello, who married Sibilla Del
Bosco, daughter of the Marquise del Bosco, in the eleventh century, and
who died in 1185.
His son Guglielmo Malocello (sometime between 1200 and 1202)
inherited from his mother’s side the governing authority that the marquise’s
family had over Varazze, Celle and Albissola; we can say that it was he who
founded the power of the family. In particular, it turns out that Guglielmo
Malocello’s mother was called Sibilla del Bosco and she had four male