the marriage between Don Rosarium Bellini of Catania the son of Don Vincenti and Donna Michaelae Ursi, before marriage the daughter of Donna Agata Ferlito of Catania, herself daughter of the spouses Don Carmeli and Donna Iosepae Cristaldo, taken in marriage since there are no legal impediments, in order that by faith The Great Chaplain Don Sancti Amanthia showed it to me as correct, The Most Reverend Lord Salvator Scammacca Deacon of the Holy Congregational Cathedral of Catania give pledge in the building by reason of the license the most Illustrious and also The Most Reverend Lord Father Vicar General with my assistance in the below-written, the aforesaid Chaplain Curate interrogated the betrothed, and they live by mutual consent, with all legal formalities by word in person were joined in marriage in the presence of acquaintances as witnesses the most illustrious Don Alphonso Paternò and Don Cajetano Codoi, just as the appearance of the Sacred Assembly of the Trident. – Whence I to all those present as well as to The Solicitous Chaplain give evidence of this fact itself thus considered, and also write by my own hand and also write below.

I currently Don Philippus Giannino Cappelanus Curatus confirm the above.

“The present commended copy was extracted from the General Archive of the Great Archiepiscopal Court of the City of Catania.

            For the Chancellor =            Aloysius Scuderi, secretary,

                                          Belleni, archivist.”

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*  *

 Families with the Bellini surname are still to be found in Abruzzo. Cavalier[20] Giuseppe M. Bellini of Lanciano, from the Royal Native-Land History Deputation, a propos of a possible relationship between his own family and the Great Composer, reports the following:
“My father who died 48 years ago, said that the famous Master was a member of our family; moreover in the genealogical family tree of my family, obtained from the registers of this Parish of S. Lucia, in the Sixteenth Century, it shows that Andrea Bellini had two sons: Giovan Leonardo, from whom I am descended and Giovan Domenico both born at the end of the Sixteenth Century. This Giovan Domenico married Rosa

[20] Cavalier – Cavaliere - Knight or honorary title, Sir

De Lectis from Colledimacine in about 1615. From 1630, when she had her last daughter, there is no further news of the descendents of Giovan Domenico. It is probable that for reasons of personal interests, his wife moved back to Colledimacine and from there, either he or his sons went to Torricella Peligna, which is only a short distance away.”

*
*  *

 The old people in Torricella still remember how in 1880 the Mayor of Catania wrote two letters to the village’s Mayor, sending with them certain sums (of money) to be distributed amongst the survivors of the House of Bellini, although unfortunately no trace of these letters can now be found; but they did demonstrate that the City of Catania itself or the descendents of Bellini, who had been transplanted over there, had not forgotten about his village or of the branch of his own lineage which still existed or which still was believed to exist in Torricella.

TRANSLATOR'S ADDENDUM:
The Swan never married. In 1819 when Bellini went to the Collegio S. Sebastiano in Naples to continue his musical studies, he fell in love with Maddalena Fumaroli, but their mutual love was opposed by her father, a magistrate, who considered Bellini to be just a simple "harpsichord player". Even after Bellini’s success as a composer the father objected, so in 1827, Bellini moved to Milan, both to forget his unhappy love for the young Neapolitan girl Maddalena Fumaroli, whom he had hoped to marry, and also to write a piece commissioned by Domenico Barbaja, then considered to be the prince of impresarios, and who had ordered from Bellini a work for La Scala - Bellini then wrote “Il Pirata” which spread his fame rapidly throughout Italy and abroad.

Bellini lived the last years of his life in the company of his mistress, Guidetta Turnia of Genova. She was young, rich, and married. Their exact relationship is unclear since Bellini's biographer, Florimo**, chose to destroy the relevant correspondence.

** Francesco Florimo, a librarian, archivist, and teacher at the San Pietro di Majella Conservatory in Naples, was a lifelong friend and admirer of Bellini’s – they had been class-mates when they were young students together at the conservatory.

Bellini died in Paris at the age of 33 of an acute flare-up of the chronic amoebic dysentery he had suffered for several years. He was abandoned and alone because people thought he had cholera. The music and the funeral held at Les Invalides on 2nd October 1835, was organised with love by an “inconsolable” Rossini, who wrote :-

“Be lenient in judging me, and tell the relatives and friends that the only consolation remaining to me is that of dedicating my careful attention to honoring a friend, a compatriot, and a distinguished artist.”

After the funeral service, at which Cherubini, Rossini, Paër and Carafa each held one corner of the pall, Bellini was buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery. In 1876, however, his mortal remains were “translated” to his birthplace and reburied in the Cathedral in Catania. 

(The Swan) Bellini’s Grave

Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini
“The Swan”
1801 – 1835
Grandson of the Torricellan
Vincenzo Tobia Nicolò Bellini  1744 – 1829.
 

For Translator's version of the Bellini family tree,

 click here for page 1
Family connections with relatives from Lanciano in the 1930’s

click here for page 2
Vincenzo Bellini’s family tree

click here for page 3
From Francesco Piccone to the Bellini Family & “The Swan”