The history of the Pallominy family in Florence, Tuscany, Italy.

The history of the Pallominy family in Tuscany in general, and in the city of Florence in particular, is not what one quite expects from a typical old Italian family with a well-documented line that dates back to early Roman times. The family's history reads like a modern times action novel, full of heroes, beautiful women, drama, wealth, intrigue and hunger for power and dominance of trade and commercial new venues. Once the reader and researcher start reading this action novel, he cannot stop going through the lines in the pages of this fascinating book. One thing is certain, that the history of the Pallominy family is similar to the history of every family, except that the drama factor is multiplied by one million.
The history of the Pallominy family starts about 800 BC in the area known today as Lazio in the central and western side of the Italian peninsula. The Lazio region is surrounded and bordered by the regions of Tuscany, Umbria, Marche, Abruzzo, Molise and Campania. The Tyrrhenian sea opens the Mediterranean to the region, which would prove to be crucial in the future history of the people from Lazio.
Research has shown that the ethnic origins of the early members of the family are Marsi. The Marsi was an early group of people that lived in the Lazio, in the region called Marsica. The Marsi history dates back to about 800 BC as archeology have found vestiges of their presence in the Lazio. The Marsi were an early Italian tribe of Germanic origin that moved south into the Italian peninsula, looking for nicer weather and better pastures for their cattle. The Marsi were skilled warriors and traders, and secured the autonomy of their nation from very early in their history. The Marsi traded heavily with other neighboring people, and as population grew, they allied themselves with these other groups. The Marsi and their neighboring tribes entered a Confederacy in the fourth century BC. Members of this confederacy included the Vestini, Paeglini and finally the Samnites, that joined few years later in 308 BC. At the beginning and as the Roman people grew in numbers and importance, the Marsi did not want to be assimilated by them, so the Marsi fought several so-called "rebellious wars" against the conquering Romans.
At the end, the Marsi allied with the Roman on terms of equality for the people of both nations. The Latin colony of Alba Fucens located on the northwestern corner of Lake Vico was founded in 303 BC near the Aequian territory, as the Marsi allied with the Romans. The city of Alba Fucens served as a "melting pot" where the Marsi and Romans came to constitute one nation, strong enough to continue conquering surrounding peoples and tribes as an attempt to build the future mighty Roman Empire. To Alba Fucens, we must add the other Roman-Marsi colony of Carsioli, founded in 298 BC. Carsioli served the same "melting pot" purpose as Alba Fucens to the east.
Archaeological finding show that the Marsi language was completely Latinized around 275 BC, as inscriptions on stone and pottery found in the Marsi cities show. It is fair to say that the Marsi became Latins, and/or Romans, about this same time.
Going back to the Pallominy Family, it is not clear when they starting referring to themselves as "Pallominy," however research have shown that the origins of the Pallominy last name date back to the second century BC in the Lazio region. It is widely accepted now that the word Pallominy is a variant spelling of the original form of the original last name, which is "Palumbo." Palumbo is the Latin word for "dove" and it is believed that the name Palumbo was originally used as a nickname for the members of the family. It was customary in early Roman times; to name individuals based on obvious physical traits or peculiar details of the person or his/her family's occupation or source of wealth. Examples of the above are the names "Cato" meaning "wise, Cicero which means chickpea, Brutus which means "ugly" and other examples.
The nickname Palumbo might have started as a nickname for one or more members of the Pallominy family, and it is very probable that the reason was that, early in their history, they had something to do with "a dove" or "doves", but the important fact is that the nickname became the last name of the members of the Pallominy family, as evidence dating back as early as 200 BC, have shown. This evidence also makes it clear that the Pallominy family had incorporated themselves into the early Roman civilization around the year 200 BC.

From this point on, we can start referring to the Pallominy family as a Roman family. Since the Pallominy family had been engaged in the trading business, moving products back and forth between the different Latin cities in the Lazio region, by the middle of the second century BC, it became a well-established Roman family whose members now could afford to join the ranks of the Roman military. Early enlistment and military financial records name some members of the Pallominy family members, as early as 167 BC.

History tells us that the Romans greatly admired the Greek civilization, evethough Grece had been weaken due to internal strife leading to civil wars. As the Greek military power had been decimated, the warring Greek cities hired mercenary armies, or invited neighboring powers to ally themselves with any given Greek city, so they could fight Greek wars between rival cities. Rome saw this opportunity to further “divide and conquer” the Greeks, with the purpose of totally dominate the Greek world. In less than 50 years the whole of mainland Greece was subdued by the Romans.By this time, the Roman legions encounter some strong resistance from the Macedonians, but they crushed them in two important battles, in 197 and 168 BC. The final blow was delivered by the then Consul Lucius Mummius, when he flattened the last free Greek city of Corinth in 146 BC. The surviving battle records list two soldiers named Palumbo, as members of the raiding horde that entered the Corinth under the orders of Mummius in 146 BC.

Similarly, a Gneus Palumbo, is listed as field liutenant participating in the conquest of Spain, serving under Tiberius Gracchus.

Besides the military activities of the Pallominy family, the majority of the family members continued their work as they engaged in trading ventures and commerce. Trade records of the time of Gaius Marius, around 100 BC, list the Palumbo family in several tax and census documents as Roman traders, mainly trading with Greek cities in the southern half of the Italian Peninsula, in the Magna Graecia.