The authors agree that this surname would derive from the Provençal term portal, with the sense of "city gate," and would have arisen as a nickname for those who lived near an urban gate or exercised its custody.

F. Miranda specifies that the surname is distributed across around one hundred and twenty municipalities, predominantly Sicilian. In Sicily, its presence is most intense in the Catania area —with localities such as Biancavilla, Maletto, Maniace, Tremestieri Etneo and Pedara—, in the Messina area —Tortorici, Capo d'Orlando and Naso— and in the Palermo area. Miranda also records its extension towards the provinces of Syracuse, Caltanissetta, Ragusa and Enna, with a specific presence in Regalbuto and Centuripe. Outside Sicily, he notes smaller nuclei in Lombardy, Lazio, Piedmont, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto.