The Counts Capodilista's
family history

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There is no lack of families who can trace their history back a couple of generations or two or three hundred years. It is far more rare to find families with a thousand years of history.

The earliest existing evidence of the Emos goes back to the late 10th century in Venice where, in republican and oligarchic times alike, they were always among the ruling families, holding positions as statesmen, diplomats, humanists and, last but not least, important military commanders. One Emo led the army against the Genoese, another defeated the Turks in the naval battle of Lepanto, a third besieged Algiers and Tunis.

The Capodilista family was even older and can be traced back to Charlemagne. When that king of the Franks invaded Italy in the late 8th century in order to dislodge the last Lombard king, the Transalgardo brothers, as they called themselves then, belonged to his retinue. They both took the enemy commander prisoner and one of them, Carlotto, became the head of a company, the so-called capo di lista. He was allowed to keep this name and given the attribute Conte.

The Capodilistas settled in the environs of Padua, holding office as civil and military leaders or princes of the Church, among them the blessed Giordano Forzatè, founder of the abbey of San Benedetto in Padua. In 1783 Beatrice, the last Capodilista, married Leonardo Emo, the Venetian patrician. Since that time the family has borne the double name Emo Capodilista.

Today, in the style of the influential Venetian families as from the 16th century, the Emo Capodilistas are primarily involved with the occupation of agriculture and viticulture.