Massimo family
| House of Massimo Italian: Casa dei Massimo |
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|---|---|
| Noble family | |
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| Country |
 Papal States Italy Italy
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| Style(s) | "His/Her Royal Highness" "His/Her Excellency" "Don" |
| Founded | 1012 |
| Founder | Pietro Massimo |
| Current head | Don Fabrizio (*1963) |
| Ethnicity | Italian |
| Cadet branches | Massimo delle Colonne since XVI century Massimo d'Araceli XVI century - 1907 Massimo-Lancellotti since 1852 |
The princely House of Massimo is historically one of the great aristocratic families of Rome, renowned for its influence on the politics, the church and the artistic heritage of the city.
The Massimo family is sometimes referred to as one of the oldest noble families in Europe. According to the Augustine historian Onofrio Panvinio (1529-1568) in his work "De gente Maxima" of 1556, the family descends in the male line from the ancient Gens Fabia or "Maximi" of republican Rome and from Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (c. 275 BC – 203 BC), called Cunctator ("the Delayer"). When asked by Napoleon (with whom he was negotiating the Treaty of Tolentino) whether the family descended from Fabius Maximus, the then Prince Massimo famously replied: «Je ne saurais en effet le prouver, c’est un bruit qui ne court que depuis douze cents ans dans notre famille» ("I can not actually prove it, it's a rumour that only runs for twelve hundred years in our family").
The Massimo family is also said to have provided two popes to the Catholic Church, both saints - Pope Anastasius I (died 401), who denounced the Origenist heresy, and Pope Paschal I (died 824), who resisted the Frankish Kings and was involved in one of the earliest attempts to Christianise Scandinavia.
The current family's better documented history traces back to a Massimo who flourished c. 950, and is identified in the person of Leo de Maximis by 1012. Thereafter the family grew in influence among the Roman barons, and played a considerable part in the history of the city in the Middle Ages, producing numerous cardinals, ambassadors, and civil and military leaders.
Massimo Massimo (died 1465) served as Rome's chief conservator, a post held by several subsequent members of the family. Luca Massimo (died 1550) was granted the title "Baron di Pisterzo" in 1544 and Fabrizio Camillio Massimo of the Arsoli branch of the family became "Marquis di Roccasecca" in 1686, both titles heritable by primogeniture.
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Wikipedia