Pergola is a municipality of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, in the region of the Marche, with around 5,800 inhabitants. It is part of the association I Borghi più belli d’Italia thanks to its notable historical and artistic heritage.

Among its main attractions stands out the Museo dei Bronzi Dorati, which preserves the celebrated Bronzi Dorati da Cartoceto di Pergola, the only set of Roman gilded bronzes to have come down complete to our days, discovered in 1946. Its medieval historic centre, known as the city of the hundred churches, gathers temples, palaces and an 18th-century theatre. To this is added a strong gastronomic identity, with products such as the white truffle, the Pergola DOC and the traditional vino di visciole.

The name of the comune Pergola has an origin linked to the rural landscape. It comes from the Latin pergŭla / pergŭlae, a term that designated a light structure or shed, the origin of the Italian pèrgola: constructions common in agricultural areas, especially as a support for vines and climbing plants. This characteristic feature of the surroundings gave its name to the place, which in time became fixed as a place name.

From that place name later arose various surnames of geographic origin, which identified people coming from Pergola. Over the centuries, the base surname Pergola gave rise to various variants, such as Pergolini, Pergolese, Pergolotti or Pergolizzi, formed according to the region of settlement and the local suffixes, and reflecting the family ramifications born from a single territorial origin.

• Pergola: a surname present throughout Italy, with a greater presence in the Marche and secondary foci in Basilicata (Potenza). Meaning: a direct form of the place name; it indicates a pure geographic origin ("the one who comes from Pergola").
• Pergolini: present mainly in the Marche. The suffix -ini indicates "the children of," "the family of" or "descendants of," in the sense of belonging to a branch split off within the same line. It does not mean "smallness," but rather a family branch derived from a Pergola family.
• Pergolotti: a rare surname, documented above all in the Marche, especially the Ancona area. The suffix -otti is typical of central-northern Italy and has a diminutive or affectionate value, but applied to a family established in a specific area.
• Pergoletti: a rare surname found in central Italy; the suffix -etti also indicates a secondary branch of a family that settled in another nearby place.
• Pergolesi: the most famous and most directly linked to the place name, found in central Italy. The suffix -ese / -esi indicates direct provenance, the equivalent of "native of Pergola." The iconic example is the composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736), whose family originated from Pergola.
• Pergolizzi: found in Sicily. The suffix -izzi is typical of southern Italy, a local phonetic adaptation of central-Italian surnames that indicates "the descendants of…"
• Della Pergola: documented especially in the Marche. The "Della + place name" form indicates a noble, urban or identity origin, frequent among Italian Jewish families; it indicates historical belonging to the place, not a diminutive.