Project

Sorio.world is a historical and cultural archive dedicated to the Sorio surname, to the village of Sorio at Gambellara (Vicenza), and to the historical figures who have borne this name through the centuries.

The project

This site is born of the personal curiosity of Mauro Sorio and of the desire to gather, organise and make accessible the historical, genealogical and cultural traces tied to the Sorio surname and to the territory from which it springs.

The research, begun as a family inquiry, has progressively widened to cover a span of time that runs from the Middle Ages to the present day, and a geographical area that stretches from the Vicentine countryside as far as Constantinople, Egypt and beyond.

The village of Sorio

The hamlet of Sorio, in the municipality of Gambellara in the province of Vicenza, is attested from the Middle Ages onwards. Here stands the church of San Giorgio in Sorio, dedicated to the saint whose name — through the Venetian dialect transformations (Zorzo → Sorio) — gave rise to the surname itself. Monte Sorio, a volcanic hill between Montebello Vicentino and Gambellara, was the theatre of the battle of 8 April 1848, a significant episode of the First Italian War of Independence.

Historical figures

Among the most notable figures to bear the Sorio surname:

• Cristoforo Sorio (attested 1468) — One of the earliest documented attestations of the surname, in a contract for the sale of Garganega grapes in the Gambellara area
• Giuseppe Sorio (1663–1742) — A Vicentine traveller, explorer of the Ottoman Empire and Egypt, forerunner of the Enlightenment spirit
• Bartolomeo Sorio (1805–1867) — Oratorian priest, philologist and editor of classical Italian texts, pupil of Antonio Cesari
• Leandro Sorio (1899–1975) — Brescian anarchist, drawn into the investigation of Gino Lucetti’s attempt on Mussolini’s life, later a partisan in the Resistance

The Sorio coat of arms

The Dizionario storico blasonico of G.B. di Crollalanza (Pisa, 1888) classifies the Sorios as «an ancient and noble Venetian family from Vicenza, propagated over the centuries into several regions of Italy», recording two variants of the coat of arms:

• Principal arms: Vert, two hares rampant and addorsed argent, clawed or, their bodies joined into a single head, turned to dexter, having four ears
• Secondary arms: Per fess, or and azure

Aims

• To document the history of the Sorio family and surname
• To gather archival, bibliographic and iconographic sources
• To create an accessible resource for researchers, genealogists and enthusiasts
• To make the material available in several languages (Italian, English, Spanish, Portuguese)

Contact

For information, suggestions or collaborations, please write to info@sorio.world.

Sorio.world is an independent project of historical research and outreach.