BEGINNING

COAT OF ARMS FAMILY DATA SHEET HOW TO ORDER...

THE BEGINNING...

It was a clear and brilliant day. A harbinger of the events that would mark this day as memorable. The Sienese sky was as blue as blue gets. It was to be a crisp winter day full of Tuscan Sunshine. The climate, that since time immemorial has produced the grapes that are still in envy of the known world,was at its best and that of it self would have been cause enough for celebration except that there were other things to celebrate this day. As it did everyday, at this time of the year, the sun would find it path among the winding streets of Siena and warm the small plazas that dot the city. Soon the people would fill the streets going about morning chores, gossiping, passing the time of the day, making ready for the coming day.

Just as the populace was beginning to stir the great bells of the Duomo signaled that the celebration of the Mass was eminent. The hour was 7:45 am. From all the palaces and grand mansions of the notable families of Siena, as well as from the stone and thatch homes of the popolino each group, headed by the Master of the house, filed silently into the main thoroughfares that ended in the majestic black and white marble cathedral where the investiture service would be held after the Mass. Nodding the day’s greeting to one another they swept over the cobble stone streets, each being careful to note the dress and demeanor of the other. It would not do to be upstaged on this of all days. The events of this day were as much about position, power and welth as they were about the man who was to be honored.

On his third story balcony overlooking the Duomo plaza, Nino di Deo Fratascioni, by now known as Nino Nini Di Siena, looked out over the city that had adopted him those long years ago. He was in his prime, 42 years old, slightly above average height, powerful frame on top of which set a regal head. His flashing blue eyes were gave contrast to his wavy black hair and beard, which was aprinkled with grey and there was just the hint of a paunch. But the most prominent feature of his oval face was his noble Sienese nose. Slightly humped in the middle coming to a fitting, albeit bulbous, end. Nino had placed this feature firmly in the familial gene bank and it would single our members of the Nini family for all future generations.

In his reverie he took himself back to another momentous day, this one during his childhood in Massa di Maremma, when he stood toe to toe with the Sienese soldier who was attempting to loot his family’s home. The Sienese Army was in the final atages of the conquest that would bring Massa de Maremma into Siena’s sphere of influence. The year was 1296 and he was six years old and armed to the teeth with his sling shot and a huge stick. As the soldier was about to brush him aside God smiled on him, because the Captain in charge of the invaders suddenly remembering his own childhood, ordered the soldier to be on his way, The officer smiled at the determined little boy and said, “The Republic Of Siena needs valiant soldiers. When you are as tall as I am come to see me and I will make you my first lieutenant”.

But fate in it’s own twisted way made him a healer rather than a killer of men. His mentor, now a retired Capitano de Popolo and in his dotage would not be able to attend today’s celebration. When Nino did grow tall, strong of arm and mind he did seek out the Capitano. But the Capitano, a very unusual soldier for his time, cared not only for his men’s abilities at war but for their health and survival and he saw something special in Nino. He did first trained him to be a soldier so that Nino would intimately know the world he was to live in but then he set on a path that lead him to become a physician.

Ah, Nino sighed as he roused himself from his thoughts. That small boy in Massa di Maremma had no right or reason to dream of a day like this, but dream he did. Sinse the incident of the confrontation with the soldier and the feeling of utter powerlessness and the necessity of having to depend on others for his salvation, he had been determined to someday be strong, rich and powerful. And the final part of that wish was about to become a reality. He had, indeed, become strong and rich and today he was to become powerful.

He had long been a member a the Monte Di Gentiluomini and today the Monte di Nove and the Supreme Magistrato were going to honor him for his outstanding service to the people of Siena as a physician. Particularly during the plague of 1349 which swept through Europe and devastated the population of Siena. Many members of the family were now using the surname, Nini di Siena and had become civic leaders, soldiers, clerics, merchants, professors and artisans. But none of this point have achieved recognition of this level. He felt justifiable pride.

But the achievement that gave him the most satisfaction and set him apart from those who practiced the art of medicine was that he not only developed new techniques for surgery, but he taught them to others thus beginning the professionalization of surgery as a part of medicine. Until then barbers served as dentist and surgeons as well..

A small blast of icy winter air brought him back to the events at hand. Yes it was a perfect day for the ocassion, cold and crisp, and he knew that by midday the sun would heat up the Plaza del Campo where all the festivities would take place after Mass. Until then the splendid sleeveless cloak with the ermine trim and the rich embroidered brocade which he had recently added to his wardrobe would certainly keep him warm. He had already put on his best gray woolen stockings, a pair of heavy woolen knee pants, deep brown in color to offset his verdant green silk tunic with the long sash ties at the throat. The final touch under the cloak was his black, deaded soft leather vest with the tasseled laces. For his feet, because this would be a day of much walking, a medium heel pair of soft pig skin three quarter boots. And to top it all off a four comered velvet cap with a lively pheasant feather on it. Yes that should be the right touch, colorful enough to stand out, but not gauche.

He descended to the ground floor as the bells af the Duomo sounded. The household waited for him at the foot of the stairway . A muted round of applause broke out his first from his wife and children, then rippled through the household staff, rising to a crescendo. Several bravos and salutes were offered. He bowed regally sweeping the floor with his hat in response.

Everyone, Master, family members and servants knew that today the house of Nini di Siena was to be honored and put in a special place in the order of things in the Republic of Siena and all would share in the benefits.

His wife would be deferred to in the cathedral and at social gatherings, sons would inherit lands, revenues and titles, daughters would become desirable wives for the sons of other prominent Sienese families and even the servants would get special treatment at the water fountains and at the market. All and all it would be a grand day for everyone. And the Capitano? Nino knew that the Capitano, through the haze of his many years would approve of the honor his pupil was to receive this day. And he would understand the part he had played in this drama. In fact the satisfaction of this moment was the last human emotion the Capitano felt before he slipped into eternal peace. The date was February 22,1364.

Four hundred and sixty years later, at about midnight, in the town of Porto Longone, hard by the shadows of the abandoned Fortezza Espagnoli of the island of Elba, twelve miles off the coast of the Region of Tuscany in the Mar Thyrrhenian, the bitter cold winter night was rent by the squall of a tiny male child to be named, Pietro Luigi Emanuelle Giovanni Nini. Luigi entered this world on February 22, 1824 and he would be the 11th great grandsome of Nino Nini di Siena and like his multi great grandfather he also would be a founder.

He stablished the surname Nini in the United States when seventeen years later he immigrated from Porto Longone, through the port of New Orleans and settled on the shores of the bounteous waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the area that is today known as Grand Isle. It was a natural connection, for the highly productive fishing waters and the climate were almost identical to his birthplace. He later married a local girl, Melicaire Azema Theroit and they raised eleven children in the mainland community then known as Cheniere Caminada, just a six foot jump from grand Isle.

ARTHOR’S NOTE: The above story of Nino’s day of glory is my fictionalized account based on historical fact, my own research into the life and customs of that period and genealogical records found both here in the U. S. and in Italy. It may not have happened that way but it could have.

IF YOUR SURNAME IS NINI OR YOU ARE DESCENDED FROM SOMEONE WHOSE SURNAME WAS NINI AND YOU WOULD LIKE TOO PARTICIPATE, AS WELL AS SHARE, IN THIS UNIQUE AND EXCITING STORY THEN CONTACT ME AT:

EMAIL: HLOUISNINI@HOTMAIL.COM