My aunt Maria Adelaide Visconti would often say that some of the Ripamontis were of aristocratic descent and therefore part of the Italian nobility.
I was never quite sure about her confident assertions and thought they were at best wishful thinking on her part, yet the sincerity with which she spoke left a doubt in my mind that maybe I might be wrong to question what she stated so emphatically.
Today I know that my aunt actually was right! There were a few Ripamontis who were Marchesi or Marquis! That would have made some of them officially part of the Italian nobility. Marquis rank third after princes and dukes out of the nine Italian aristocratic titles in the official ranks of the Kingdom of Italy that were in effect from 1861 to 1946.
It came about that in the 1600’s a Francesco Ripamonti from Rome married a noblewoman from the town of Verucchio named Cecilia. Verucchio is a fortified hill top town in the province of Rimini.
Francesco Ripamonti’s marriage to Cecilia was a historic event causing some later Ripamontis to inherit aristocratic titles.
Except that after the last Constitution of 1948, titles that the Italian nobility once held are no longer recognized in Italy and carry no legal validity. Some Italian aristocrats, however, still continue to use them today, but mostly within their social circles.