The spread of a surname and its correlation with the history of Italy

Although it is difficult to identify the true origin of the surname Muratore, you can speculate, based on the statistical data presented in these links: Muratore and Muratori.

Italy, in the Middle Ages, was divided into many small states, duchies and kingdoms. The unification of Italy occurred only in the year 1861, although there was for many centuries a common language and culture.

Italy, at the end of the Middle Ages (in 1494), was divided as it is represented in the figure on the right [4]. At that time, the journeys and the voyages were difficult for ordinary people, to go across Italy from North to South took about 2 to 4 month journey on foot.

Another barrier to the movement of people were also the numerous boundaries present in the path.

An exception to these difficulties was definitely established by:

• merchants and sailors who lived in the cities where a frequent trade took place. The city of Genoa, Palermo and Messina were surely among the most active cities in those years in the trade by ship;
• the forced migration which took place in the centuries XI – XIII (see this link).

It is therefore likely that in those years, someone with the surname Muratore, has travelled between the two regions of Sicily and Liguria.

In later centuries the regions of Southern and North-Western Italy have remained, more or less, united into two distinct kingdoms for a long time, as shown in the figure [5], which represents Italy in the decades before 1860, shortly before the unification of Italy:

-          Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Sicily, Calabria and other southern regions)

-          Kingdom of Sardinia (Liguria, Piedmont, Western Lombardy, Sardinia and some regions of South-Eastern France, etc.)

This could explain the primary spread of the surname Muratore only in these two regions.

Similarly it could also explain the primary spread of the surname Muratori only in the North-central Italy.

For more information about the historical evolution of the boundaries in the Italian peninsula see this link [15].

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See also:

- Heraldry of Muratore (and Muratori)

- How they were born the coats of arms?

- House of Ventimiglia and the surname Muratore

- Migration from north-western Italy to Sicily in the late Middle Ages

- Migration flows of the Muratore families

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