Vegni
The Vegni are an Italian family from Siena. The medieval origins of the family have limited documentation.
The origin of the family is in Siena, with Bencivenne, father of Aringhieri, whose children Guido, Iacobina and Ranieri are mentioned in a contract of a house sale in 1201.
Besides the local government positions held by family members, the only member worth of notice in these early period is Andrea,
During the first half of the 18th century the family still maintains its centre of interests in the region South of Siena, which remains the city of reference for education, with its university, and local political power. A member of international relevance is Leonardo , born from Francesco Vegni and Caterina Apolloni in 1731.
Siena, in the first years of the 19th century, was under the rule of Napoleon, and the region was called Ombrone. Giuseppe graduated in 1813, at the time of his marriage with Maria Carolina Neri (1792–1836). She was a beautiful, well-educated and wealthy woman, living close to the old hospital (Ospedale Santa Maria della Scala) where he was intern. Giuseppe, after a brief period of activity as a physician, dedicated his life to the family and to Siena's cultural and social life (he was a member of the Accademia dei Rozzi). He had three children, Adelaide (1816–1883), Girolamo (1826–1857) and Giovanni (1830–1907).
They moved to the building which was part of her dowry, in via Franciosa, just at the end of the splendid square of the baptistry, Piazza S. Giovanni. On the opposite side of the square lived Andrea's second cousin Niccola(1783–1864), a lawyer son of Eustachio of Giacomo, who lived at the corner with via dei Pellegrini, in the Palazzo del Magnifico. With the acquisition of these two houses in Siena, the family's centre of interests had finally moved to Siena, with both the surviving branches of the family maintaining only land ownership links to the val di Chiana and Asciano. The two branches were identified by slightly different coats of arms.[4] Girolamo, son of Giuseppe, a judge, dies at 34 in 1857, his wife and son leaving to Brasil in the 1870s. With the death of Niccola in 1864 and the lack of offspring from the cousins in Asciano, only Angelo (son of Niccola, born in 1811) and Giovanni remains. They grew up in the same square, but the characters of the two were certainly very different, with Giovanni staying all his life in Siena, marrying the daughter of an industrialist, dedicating the rest of his life to the family and his own pleasure; Angelo, travelled the world, became a professor of engineering and an industrialist himself, finally, having no children, he left all his vast fortune to the "son who will never die", a school which still proudly bears his name and his coat of arms.
The links with the Tuscan town remained strong even in recent times, with Mario, who was mayor of Siena between 1949 and 1951, and the many ties to the Contrada della Selva which uses the gardens and runs an "osteria" in the grounds of palazzo Vegni. The stables of the Contrada, used during the Palio for the racing horse, was donated by the family.
Giovanni's line is now divided into four main families, descendants of Guido (1869–1941) and Giuseppe Vegni (1864–1927), living in Siena, Milan, Rome, Paris and Neuchatel. Member of the family was the renowned particle physicistGuido Vegni CERN (1931–2016).
There are other branches of the Vegni's family in Siena, Arezzo and other main cities of Tuscany. A notable member is Lisimaco Vegni, an excellent doctor, well known for his skills in the place where he worked, Foiano della Chiana. On November 28th 2023 the hospital of "Foiano della Chiana" was named after him, for all the hard work and commitment that Lisimaco brought as a leading doctor but mostly as a humble employee.
References
- ^ R.Archivio di Stato in Siena: Inventario delle pergamene conservate nel diplomatico dall'anno 736 all'anno 1250, t. 1 Lisini, Alessandro - Siena (1908) Page 201
- ^ Bencivenni notaro della camera reale: Archivio di Stato di Siena(ASS) DOM 1222 febbraio 19, casella 39 Ms. B 39, n. 147 and 148
- ^ Luca BCvennis: ASS Diplomatico, Archivio Generale 1290
- ^ The family was part of the nobility of Chianciano and of the Siena republic before the fall, in 1555, of the Republic, and as per the law of 1750 of the Grand-Duchy of Tuscany it belonged to the Patriziato, of ancient nobility, confirmed by a decree of Leopold II in 1838. Branch of Giuseppe Vegni (1785–1856): ASS Ms A23, "L'arme delle famiglie nobili di Siena" Antonio Aurieri (1706) page 18. D'azzurro, alla spada in fascia (o alla fascia d'oro), conficcata s'una biscia di verde in palo, accompagnata da un crescente rivolto d'oro e da tre stelle a otto punte pure d'oro, 1.2. Branch of Niccola Vegni (1783–1864)- Now extinguished – ASS Ms A23, "L'arme delle famiglie nobili di Siena" Antonio Aurieri (1706) page 24: D'azzurro, alla fascia d'oro caricata di una biscia di verde, accompagnata da tre stelle a otto punte pure d'oro, 2.1. ASS Ms A24, "Famiglie nobili di Siena divise per monti" Sestigiani, c44, Monte dei Riformatori ASF Raccolta Ceramelli Papiani Fascicolo 6671 – Notifica di registrazione al Patriziato Senese ai sensi della legge "per regolamento della Nobilta' e cittadinanza" Vienna 31 Luglio 1750. , with the branch of Joseph, or Giuseppe, bearing the vertical serpent, the one of Niccola an horizontal serpent.