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RUGGIERO
Ruggiero or Ruggero, pronounced (roo-JEH-roh), is the Italian version of the Germanic name Roger.
This ancient surname is of Old German pre 7th-century origins. It derives from the personal name of the period "Hrodgari", translating as "Renowned-spear" from the elements "hrod" meaning renown and "gari"- a spear. The name was very popular with the Norsemen, and it was they who "borrowed" it from the Gauls they conquered, as they swept through on their long march from Scandinavia to their final home in Normandy. From there the name was introduced into England after the famous Conquest of 1066, and as such is first recorded in the famous Domesday Book of 1086 in the Latinised "Rogerius" and "Rogerus".
- Clemente Ruggiero, my paternal grandfather, was born on 30 Sep 1886, in the house located at Via Bucciano (now Via Roma) 18, Municipality of Bucciano, Province of Benevento, Region of Campania, Kingdom of Italy. He emigrated to the United States on 7 Apr 1908.
- Bucciano is on the southern slopes of Monte Taburno in the Valle Caudina.
- In antiquity, this was the territory of the Caudini, who were one of the four tribes comprising the Samnite Confederacy.
- As of 2019 there where 2,072 inhabitants in Bucciano. The most common surname is Ruggiero.
- According to my sources from Bucciano, the Ruggiero are either all related or made up of 3 large but unrelated families.
- According to Giovanni Ruggiero who was born in Bucciano: "...in fact Bucciano got started with people sent from Airola, to develop and protect, our water sources. The original statue of our Shrine on Mt Taburno is in Airola, where the Ruggieros are mostly if not all from..."
- Clemente Ruggiero, my paternal grandfather, gave up his part of the Ruggiero property in Bucciano to the family members who stayed behind. He sent a letter, stating his wishes, with some of his family members in the US who were going to visit Bucciano. I was told this by my aunt, Maria R. (Ruggiero) Mitola , the second youngest daughter of Clemente Ruggiero and Rosa Cirillo.
- After WWII (I remember this happening in the late 1950's or early 1960's), the U.S. Cirillo (Rosa Cirillo was my paternal grandmother) family members signed over their rights to the property in Italy to the Italian Cirillo of the Municipality of Capodrise, Province of Caserta, Region of Campania. The family in the U.S. wanted monetary compensation, but the Fascists had emptied the banks. I was present when my father Domenico Ruggiero, Sr. was discussing this at a family meeting.
Posted by Dominic Ruggiero, Jr. - Dominic Ruggiero, Jr.