Christianity and the barbarian invasions left their mark on the origin of Italian surnames, since they contributed to spreading new names and broadened the possibilities of choice. Many are the surnames that express religious devotion or the will to place the newborn under the protection of the saints of the Christian calendar.

We have already dealt with surnames derived from figures of the Christian calendar such as Giovanni, Giacomo, Domenico and Antonio. In this article we will devote ourselves to the name Pietro and the surnames that derive from it.

The name Pietro derives from the Latin Petrus, an adaptation of the Aramaic Kephas ('stone' or 'rock'), the name given by Jesus Christ to the apostle Simon. Thanks to the extraordinary diffusion of the cult of Saint Peter, this name became one of the most frequent in Italy and gave rise to an enormous number of surnames.

The importance of the name Pietro

Peter the Apostle, originally called Simon, was a Galilean fisherman who became one of the closest disciples of Jesus Christ. Jesus gave him the name of Pietro (Peter) which derives from the Latin 'Petrus', meaning 'rock', indicating his fundamental role in the founding of the Christian church.

Despite having denied him three times, he changed his attitude and became a key leader of the early church. According to tradition, he died as a martyr in Rome, crucified upside down. He was a witness to important events for Christianity such as the Transfiguration and the Resurrection of Jesus.

Many surnames derive directly or through hypocoristic forms from the name Pietro borne by the ancestor, but they may also derive from place names, since numerous are the places or geographic features that bear the name Pietra = 'stone'.

List of surnames derived from the name Pietro

Pietra, Pietramale, Pietrafesa, Pietragalla, Pietrantoni, Pietrantonio, Pietrantuoni, Pietrantuono, Pietrasanta, Pietri, Pietrini, Pietrino, Pietro, Pietribiasi, Pietrosante, Pietrosanti, Pietrosanto, Di Pietro, De Pietro, Pietrangeli, Pietravalle, Pietrarossa, Pietrabianca, Pietropinto.

Review of some surnames

• Pietra is distributed in the arc that goes from the lower Bergamo area, the Milan area, the Pavia area and the Piacenza area to Genoa. It could derive from place names such as Pietra de Giorgi (Pavia), Pietra Marazzi (Alessandria), Silvano Pietra (Pavia), and so on.
• Pietramale is rare and could derive from the place name Pietramala (Florence).
• Pietrafesa is typically from Potenza with a group also in Avigliano (Potenza) and in San Marco dei Cavoti in Benevento. It derives from the old place name Pietrafesa or Pietrafixa, present-day Satriano di Lucania (Potenza).
• Pietragalla is specific to Potenza, to Acerenza and Rionero in Vulture. It should derive from the name of the village of Pietragalla, very close to Acerenza, probably the place of origin of the ancestors.
• Pietrantoni is specific to the province of Rome and to L'Aquila.
• Pietrantonio, very rare, has a group in Molise, one in Bari and one probably secondary in Abruzzo.
• Pietrantuoni is extremely rare, while Pietrantuono is exceedingly scarce, with a presence in Potenza and in northern Campania. Both derive from the compound name Pietro Antonio.
• Pietrasanta derives from the place name Pietrasanta (Lucca), but the family is very old, going back at least to the year 1200, when the Milanese Guiscardo da Pietrasanta was podestà of Lucca and in 1255 gave his name to the present-day city of Pietrasanta (Lucca). The counts Pietrasanta held the fief of Cantù (Como).
• Pietri, rather rare, would seem typical of the area between Reggio Emilia and Modena.
• Pietrini is widely diffused in the central band comprising Tuscany, the Marche and Lazio.
• Pietrino is very rare.
• Pietro, absolutely rare, would seem to be from the south.
• Pietribiasi is typical of Vicenza, of Schio and Marano Vicentino in particular. It should derive from the name of the ancestor, a compound name formed by the name Pietro and a dialectal form of the name Biagio.
• Pietroni seems to be specific to the region of Ancona in the Marche, and derives from the name Pietro.
• Pietropaolo, rather rare, seems to have three groups: in southern Calabria, in Naples and between southern Abruzzo and Molise. It derives from the fusion of the names Pietro and Paolo.
• Pietropinto is specific to the upper Potenza area, to Potenza, San Fele, Atella and Venosa. This surname could derive from a nickname originated by the dark complexion of the ancestor named Pietro. We find the first traces of this usage in Salerno in the second half of the 1200s.
• Pietrosante is absolutely rare, and should be Abruzzese. Pietrosanti is typical of the provinces of Rome and Latina. Pietrosanto seems to have a main nucleus in Fondi (Latina). They derive from the compound name Pietro and Sante or Santo.
• Di Pietro is typical of southern Italy, in particular of the southern regions such as Campania, Apulia and Calabria; it can be interpreted as 'of Pietro' or 'of the family of Pietro', suggesting an ancestral link with an individual named Pietro. In Italy, the surname Di Pietro is widely diffused in the southern regions, in particular in Campania, Apulia, Calabria and Sicily.

It is important to note that the present-day geographic distribution of these surnames could be very different from the places of origin, since many families have moved over the centuries.

According to A. Bongioanni, the popular forms Piero, Pero, Piro and Petro generated numerous regional variants. From them derive surnames such as Perasso, Perazzi, Perini, Perino, Perrelli, Perretti, Perroni, Pirola, Pirolini, Pirazzoli, Pirozzi, Pedrocchi, Petrocchi, Petrucco, Patrucco, Perucca, Peracchino, Peracchione, Pieretti and other similar forms.

Also belonging to this patronymic family are surnames derived directly from Pietro or from compound names, such as Di Pietro, De Pietro, Pietri, Pietrini, Pietrino, Pietrantonio, Pietrantoni, Pietrantuoni and Pietrantuono.

Some surnames of this series also present possible toponymic origins. This is the case of Pietra, Pietramale, Pietrafesa and Pietragalla, which can be linked to Italian localities or geographic features whose name contains the element pietra.