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Stelios Bizas:
Stelios Bizas is from the beautiful island of
Paros in the Aegean sea. His family name has
transformed over the centuries from PISANI to
MPISA and finally, when in Paros, to BIZAS. An
interesting fact is that 90% of people with the
BIZAS name today live on the island of Paros,
with the rest having roots there. Stelios always
knew from his father that their family name has
Italian roots from Pisa and Venice. Through his
own research Stelios found that from 1480 to
1537 the islands of Antiparos, Ios and Anafi
were dominated by the Venetian Pisani family
(See Orest Pisani below).
In 1440 Domenico Pisani, son of the Duke of
Crete, married the daughter of Crispi, Duke of
the Cyclades islands. Crispi offered him the
three islands as a gift. The powerful Crispi
family still exists in Paros to this day. In
1537 Barbarossa, the famous Turkish pirate, took
hold of all of the Cyclades islands, burning and
destroying in his wake, finally offering the
islands as a gift to the Sultan of the Ottomans.
After some years the Sultan gave the ownership
and management of the islands back to the Crispi
family. Stelios believes that this is the period
where the name was changed from Pisani to Bizas. |
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Sharon Cottle nee Pisani: Sharon is
from Gauteng, South Africa. Her paternal
grandfather was involved in the 1922 riots in
South Africa and changed his name to Pizani.
Sharon would love to trace her family back to
Pisa - Italy (her great-grandfather's
birthplace). He sailed to South Africa around
1792 and Sharon believes his name to be Franesca [sic]
Pisani*.
She was told he was the black sheep of the
family!
* it is more likely that his name
was Francesco as Francesca is the
feminine version of the name. |
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Eduardo Pisani Torre:
Eduardo is second generation Argentinean,
born in Buenos Aires. His father is Florentino
Pisani, son of Blas Pisani, who came from Italy
to Argentina at the end of the 19th century. |
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Sandro Pisani:
Sandro lives and works in Torino (Turin) where
he is a
photographer. His father came from Southern
Italy many years ago to settle in the North. Sandro's
grandfather was Salvatore Pisani who lived in
Calabria. |
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Rose
Muzzi: Rose is
from
Canada and is another link to the
Pisani of Serra San
Bruno in Calabria,
Italy.
Rose's paternal Aunt,
Brunia Muzzi, was married to Salvatore Pisani and
both were from Serra San Bruno.
They had two daughers Josepina
[sic]
& Guisapina [sic].
They may also have had another daughter. While
these people are no longer alive, their
descendants still live in Serra San Bruno. |
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Orest Pisani: Orest is from Germany and has a
colourful Pisani
history stretching
back to Venice.
Orest's family came from the black sea area
(Trebizond - today's Athens). It is said that
they moved from Venice to "Greece" in the 15th
century to rule over an island of some
description (see Stelios
Bizas above). In 1895 a member of that
family moved to Europe and founded companies in
Switzerland and Germany, and later in Spain
Italy and France as well as in the UK. All of
those companies (except in the UK, which was
closed down some 20 years ago after the family
member there passed away) remain in Pisani
family possession till this day. They were
engaged in trade, banking and shipping.
Orest's father was brought to Germany in 1927 to
work for the Hamburg and Bari (Italy) companies,
and he is still in contact with all of his
family members in Europe.
The
UK arm of the family no longer exists. The last
member of that family was Camilla Pisani (widow
of John Pisani) who passed away in
2007. |
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Marian Pisani: Marian
is from
the UK and is married to
a Pisani of
Maltese descent.
Marian's father-in-law
emigrated from
Malta to the UK in the 1940's. His name was
Frank Pisani and was born in Valletta,
Malta in
1909.
He
had many brothers and sisters, of which she
recalls one called Nick and another Jenny, and
his father had a cafe/restaurant in Valletta. |
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Ludovic Pisani: Ludo is from
France where his
Pisani family
migrated to from
Algeria during the
war. He knows of a
Maltese connection
potentially through
his
great-grandfather
and is searching for
more information. The
information that Ludovic has about his Pisani
family is as follows:
Great-grandfather: Antoine PISANI
married Pauline Juliette MONTIBELLO
in Alger in 1903.
Grandfather: Antoine PISANI, born
in Alger,17 August 1914
Grandmother: Eleanor Eugénie ROLLAND,
born in 1916
The brothers of Ludovic's grandfather, Antoine,
are Sauveur, Jean and Paul PISANI.
The possible connection with Malta is with his
great-grandfather Antoine PISANI who may have
had a sister or cousin who lived there. |
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Joseph Pisani: Joseph,
artist, sculptor and
art restorer,
is from Virginia, USA. Joseph's family are from Serra San Bruno in the
mountains of southern Italy where they have been
since the 16th century.
Joseph's father's name
was Salvatore Clemente Pisani (1904-1976) and he
has three brothers and one sister: Michelangelo,
Maria, Tonino, Ottavio |
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Giulio
Enrico Pisani:
Giulio is from
Luxembourg, and his
Pisani roots are in
Treviso, Italy. Giulio's ancestor Francesco was an award winning
stone mason in Treviso, Italy. He was a simple
worker, but both of his sons became very well
known sculptors in their own right, and received
the patronage of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who
took them to Florence where they opened a great
sculpture academy.
Later
Giulio's Pisani family spread out, mainly to
Livorno, Pisa, Lucca, Carrara, and Milano, but
also the USA and the UK. Many of the Pisani
families that settled in the UK are descendant
from the Francesco/Treviso branch.
Giulio is now retired but remains an active
writer and columnist in Luxembourg. You can view
some details about him
here. |
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Giovanni Pesce: Giovanni is from Italy
and had a
Pisani for a
great-grandmother. Giovanni's Mother was Matilde Scarciglia
(1923-1986). His maternal grandfather, Roberto
Scarciglia (1885-1973), was the son of Matilde
Pisani (1845-1910).
Matilde
Pisani was the "Dama di Compagnia" of Maria
Sofia di Wittelsbach, Queen of Naples. |
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Gaston
Sosa
Pisani: Gaston
is from
Argentina. Gaston's grandfather was Pietro Paolo Pisani,
born 1870 near Milan. He was the son of Mauro
Pisani and Marguerita Lamberti, who arrived in
Argentina by boat in 1885/86.
Gaston has tried to find more information
about his Pisani ancestors but his search as yet
has been fruitless.
Anyone with any information can
contact me and I
will pass this on to Gaston. |
Want to add your Pisani details to
this list? Potentially find long lost relatives?
Then get in touch.
All flags courtesy of 4 International Flags |
