Arace Family History

The family is originally from Compiano, province of Parma, diocese of Piacenza. The first member we have documented record of Piacenza is Don Giuliano, Canon in the cathedral of Piacenza, who was invested with the prebend (stipend) of St. John the Evangelist in 1490; subsequently the family must have moved to Piacenza, as we know that various members of the family in the 17th century held assets in Podenzano and Ponte Albarola. Under the Farnese (Dukes), they held various positions, such as that of director of the Post at Castel S. Giovanni. The other was a position as manager for the supply of gunpowder for the Ducal troops. For the praiseworthy services rendered to his house, Duke Francesco Farnese, with a patent of January 21, 1709, inscribed the two brothers Claudio and Paolo among the nobles of the Scotti class of Piacenza with a title transmissible to their male and female descendants. Of the family, a Domenico obtained, on February 5, 1720, from the Duke, a patent of familiarity; a Giovanni was appointed lieutenant in the Ducal troops with a patent of January 6, 1729; a Gaetana, daughter of Claudio, probably belongs to the family, an artist appreciated in her day, who sang in the Ducal theater of Piacenza in 1754 in the opera Artaserse by Abbé Salvoni, a musician of the maestro di Cappella Fischetti the Neapolitan. Claudio had no male descendants, Paolo had Giovan Angelo, who married the noble Felicita.