The surname Bassani is generally considered to have a toponymic origin, linked to the many Italian localities named Bassano, such as Bassano del Grappa, Bassano Bresciano, Bassano Romano, and Bassano in Teverina. It originally identified a person who came from one of these places.

According to E. Rossoni, the surname may also derive from the ancient Latin personal names Bassianus or Bassanus, documented in both Roman and Carolingian times. This interpretation suggests a continuity from Latin personal names to medieval hereditary surnames, a common process in Italian onomastics.

Rossoni also notes that several related surnames, including Bazzani, may have developed from place names derived from the same root Bassano. In Emilia, for example, some lineages may be connected to the locality of Bazzano in the Bologna area, whose name ultimately derives from the Latin fundus Badianus. Historical records document the presence of these surnames between the 16th and 18th centuries, including notable figures such as the painter Giuseppe Bazzani.

For his part, F. De Laurentiis interprets Bassani and related forms as ethnic-toponymic surnames, equivalent to Bassanese, meaning “a person from Bassano.”

Taken together, the various interpretations point to an origin closely connected to the root Bassano, either through ancient Latin personal names or, more commonly, through place names. The surname preserves the memory of an ancestral connection with one of the many localities bearing that name throughout Italy.