The Libro d'oro della Nobiltà italiana (Golden Book of Italian Nobility) is a private, unofficial publication in Italian containing anagraphic and biographical data of certain Italian noble and notable families published at irregular intervals under the auspices of the Collegio Araldico – Istituto araldico romano (College of Heraldry – Heraldic Institute of Rome)Gian Carlo Jocteau, Nobili e nobiltà nell'Italia unita (collana Quadrante), Laterza 1997 until 2010 it was published by Roberto Colonnello Editore, owned by Roberto Colonnello Bertini Frassoni, then hereditary Secretary General of the Association, and since 2014 it has been published by Ettore Gallelli, who formally took it over by registering it with the General Public Office for works protected by copyright, under the supervision of the Italian Ministry of Culture (art. 103 L. 633/1941).
This is one of several publications on the subject on the book market, and should not be confused with the Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana compiled by the Consulta Araldica (Heraldic Council) of the Kingdom of Italy.
History After the end of the first series of the Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana in 1905, the first edition of the "Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà" published by the Collegio Araldico, at the instigation of the secretary of the same association Carlo Augusto Bertini, later Bertini Frassoni, former contributor to the first series of the Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana,Angelo Scordo: Cento anni di Rivista Araldica, Società Italiana di Studi Araldici (S. I.S.A.), volume 13, (Atti del 20° convivio), Turin, 2003 (with notes on the history of the Book of the Italian Nobility) with subsequent editions every two or three years until the 1930s, when the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers of the Kingdom of Italy issued a decree prohibiting the use of the name 'Libro d'oro', as it was the same as that of an official state register and this risked confusing readers. The ban is still in force and has not been lifted.
The name change marked the end of the first series, which ended in 1932 with the 8th edition.
The editions of 1933–36 (printed in 1935) and 1937–39 (printed in 1939) were entitled "Libro della Nobiltà italiana" (Book of the Italian nobility), removing the forbidden word d'oro (gold) from the title, and constituted the second series of the publication.
However, after a long interruption in publication, between 1939 and 1949, the series resumed publication under the same name as the official document, again at irregular intervals and without government authorisation to use the same title as an official register, giving rise to the third series with the 10th edition.Il Conte di Torviscosa nobiltà favolosa: Galleria degli antenati di domani / Selezione araldica a cura e con i commenti di Arduino Bertoli, Araldica, Padova, 1967.
In 1957 the founder Carlo Augusto Bertini Frassoni died'Andrea Borella, Annuario della Nobiltà italiana (Royal Peerage & Noble Families Books edition), Teglio, S.A.G.I.. 2010, part II, sub voce and he was succeeded in the editorship of the Libro d'Oro and the Rivista Araldica and in the position of general secretary of the "Collegio Araldico" by his son, Raoul Bertini Frassoni who directed it until his death in 1974 year. He was succeeded by his grandson, and adopted son, Roberto Colonnello Bertini Frassoni, who edited the 16th edition (1973–1976).Angelo Scordo: Cento anni di Rivista Araldica, Società Italiana di Studi Araldici (S.I.S.A.), volume 13, (Atti del 20° convivio), Torino, 2003 (with notes on the history of the Golden Book of Italian Nobility)Andrea Borella, Annuario della Nobiltà italiana (collana Royal Peerage & Noble Families Books edition), Teglio, March 2021, parte I, note 2
In 2005, Roberto Colonnello Bertini Frassoni, 'in his own name and as the owner of the individual firm of the same name' and also in his capacity as Segretario generale del Collegio Araldico (Secretary General of the Heraldic College), sued Andrea Borella complaining that the defendant, in his capacity as editor and publisher of the 'new series' of the 'Annuario della Nobiltà italiana' (Yearbook of the Italian Nobility), would unlawfully have extracted and reused for that editorial activity a substantial part of the contents of the "Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana (Golden Book of the Italian Nobility) and also slavishly copied numerous parts of the Golden Book, thereby infringing the plaintiff's sui generis right as producer of the database and, at the same time, the copyright of the publication in question as a literary work. The Secretary General of the Collegio Araldico, Roberto Colonnello, asked the Court to establish these alleged infringements and to issue the necessary injunctions and sanctions, including the destruction of the all printed copies and the withdrawal of the Annuario from the book market. The Court of Milan rejected the requests of the Secretary General of the Collegio Araldico, Roberto Colonnello, with judgment no. 12659 of 23 June – 28 October 2008. The Secretary General of the Collegio Araldico, Roberto Colonnello, appealed against the first instance decision and asked for it to be reviewed. The second verdict, issued by Milan Court of Appeal, was very unfavourable to Colonnello and the Collegio Araldico. The Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the first instance and ordered Colonnello/Secretary of the Collegio Araldico to pay all the costs of the trial. The judgment has been notified and become final in mid-2012. The verdict was followed by a series of events which, in less than two years, led to the closure of the Heraldic College and to Colonnello Bertini Frassoni's resignation from the management of the Golden Book of the Nobility.Andrea Borella: Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana, XXXIII edizione, introduzione, pagg. 10–13, nota 1"A recent court case brought by the Editor of the Libro d'Oro della Nobilta Italiana against the newly republished Annuario della Nobiltà Italiana (of which the first edition of the new series was produced in 2000, and a second edition is under way), has ended in disaster for the plaintiff.Not only was their case rejected, but evidence has been produced which demonstrated that the name Libro d?Oro in fact belonged to the Italian State, as this was the title of original register of the nobility of the old Kingdom and which is maintained in the official state archives. In the 1930s the Italian government ordered that the editor stop using the name, but at the time it was allegedly claimed that the name had separately and earlier been approved by a Cardinal, in the name of the Holy See. It now appears that this was not in fact the case, and it is alleged that the Cardinal never existed and the claim to this recognition was forged. The editors were told to cease distributing the book and, to make it worse, the Holy See has now also stepped in and allegedly demanded Euros 1 million in compensation. A question remain whether the publication actually belongs to the editors, or to the common society of the Collegio Araldico which is the official publisher. The final outcome is not yet known but it would seem that this leaves the field free for the Annuario della Nobilta Italiana." Guy Stair Sainty, 25 maggio 2006 "END OF THE LIBRO D'ORO della NOBILTA ITALIANA?
At the beginning of 2014 year Colonnello Bertini Frassoni, Secretary of the Araldico College, announced the dissolution of this association, founded a century before, and consequently the suspension of the publication of the Golden Book of the Nobility, the last edition of which had been published under his direction four years earlier, in 2010 (XXIV edition of the third series).
First series of the periodical Golden Book of the Nobility (1910–1932) (I – X edition) In the first series of this periodical, about 3000.00 different families were published: they represent only a very small part of the families registered in the official Italian nobility lists (about 12.000.00). In the second part of the books were published some families decorated with titles given by the Popes (after 1870), some titled families of the Republic of San Marino not recognised by the Kingdom of Italy and families of heterogeneous origin, including some fake noble families.Arduino Bertoli: Falsa nobiltà e libro d'oro compiacenti, Venezia, Araldica editrice, 1965 BN 66-6819Arduino Bertoli, Predicati bene, razzolati male: nobilta, mafia, Araldica, Venezia 1971. BN S7883; Arduino Bertoli, Libro Bianco della Nobiltà italiana, Araldica, Venezia 1964. BN 648344
Second series (1933–1939) (XI – XII edition) The second series of the work, whose title changed to Book of the Italian Nobility, published essentially the same families as in the first series.
Third series (1940–2010) (XIII – XXIV edition) The third series of the work, whose title was again changed to "Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana" (Golden Book of the Italian Nobility), published essentially the same families as the first and second series. Until the death of Raul Bertini Frassoni in 1974, the families registered in the official lists of the Italian nobility were separated from those whose nobility derived from other sources. In the second part, some important families, i.e. those who were not noble but possessed the coat of arms of the bourgeoisie, were included, as well as other families.
The first series of the book included almost 1,900 families covered in detail while the website of the Heraldic College, the apparent publisher of the work, proclaimed the publication of some 2500 noble families, for each of which there should have been a brief historical note, the updated family status and the black and white coat of arms. Libro d'oro della nobiltà italiana] Despite what is stated on the website and in these books, these are only a small part of the families registered in the official lists of the Kingdom of Italy, i.e. those who have sent their updated personal data to the Heraldic College by following the proposal to purchase the work; to these must be added some families recognised by the Association of the Corpo della Nobiltà Italiana, by the Sovereign Military Order of Malta or by the Republic of San Marino. As stated in the subscription and participation forms for the work, inclusion of a family was contingent upon the family itself sending data and subscribing with advance payment of at least one copy: this did not happen in other peerage and genealogical repertoiressuch as the Debrett's Peerage (Cyril Francis James Hankinson, My Forty Years with Debrett, R. Hale, London 1963) or the Burke's Peerage, the series of the Gothaisches Deutsches genealogisches TaschenbuchThe publication of the Libro d'Oro by Collegio Araldico has been criticised for this reason: see: Arduino Bertoli, Predicati bene, razzolati male: nobilta, mafia, Araldica, Venezia 1971. BN S7883; Arduino Bertoli, Libro Bianco della Nobiltà italiana, Araldica, Venezia 1964. BN 648344; Matteo de Nardelli, "The dynastic succession in the House of Savoy", in Monarchia Nuova, 1986 Furthermore, since the insertion and periodic updating of the data is done by the families themselvesLibro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana, Roma, Collegio Araldico, XXIII edition, 2005–2009 (warning, p. III) the current list does not respect the criteria set out in the preface of the work and contains omissions and inaccuracies.
The two fourth series of the work (2014/2016 – to date) In September 2014, after a four-year break, a new company called 'Libro d'Oro s.r.l.' was established in Turin, with different headquarters and members, to produce a new series of volumes. The aim was to resume publication with a new series entitled 'Libro d'Oro della Nobiltà italiana'.it/il-collegio/Collegio Araldico