E. Rossoni notes that this surname is very rare and appears to be typical of the Ferrara area, in the Emilia-Romagna region.

F. De Laurentiis proposes that the base of the surname goes back to nicknames and epithets applied to people who suffered intensely or who, on account of their irascible temper, "consumed themselves inside" with rage or displeasure, alluding to the term soffritto —literally, what is fried over a low flame— or to the verb soffrire, "to suffer". Surnames such as this one later arose from this kind of characterisation of temperament or habitual behaviour.