Famous illustrious family of Genoa, one of the four principal of the republic, as that which is scattered in Italy, France and Spain, divided into various branches, that is, in the sovereign principles of Monaco, the house, in the princes of Gerace and Salerno, in the dukes of Evoli, in the Marquises of Antibo, Castronovo and della Pietra, in the Counts of Tognetto, in the Grimaldi of Bologna, Carigriano, Cuneo, Calabria and Sicily; then in the accounts of Du Bech Crispin, in the Marquises De la Bosse, in the counts of Dangu Bóuri Vardes, of Guttieres, Maranz, de Beuille, etc.
She originates from Grimoaldo, Count of Flanders, brother of Carlo Martello, and boasts in the history of great figures such as a Raimondo Grimaldi Admiral of France under Philip the Fair, who beat and dispersed in 1304 the fleet of Count Guy di Fiandra on the coasts of Zeeland making it his prisoner; an Antonio Admiral of Genoa, brave against the Catalans 1333, and unfortunate in the battle of the Loire; a Giovanni also a victorious admiral on the Po against the other Venetian Nicolò Trevisana 1431; a Dominic cardinal and archbishop of Avignon intrepid in the battle of Lepanto 1571, and others that for brevity we leave out.
Returning to the sovereign princes of Monaco, by the authors we agree to have had such a status since 988 producing a series of 31 illustrious rulers up to the current prince D. Carlo Onorate Grimaldi, institutor of the equestrian order of s. Charles 1858, intelligent prince, brave, beneficial and progressive, who established a league with France, forging relations with all the powers of Europe and America. The first to bring this family to Sicily was an Enrico Grimaldi, son of Carlo, lord of Mentoné, being the second son of Charles the great sovereign prince of Monaco, as from the Venasque, Moreri, Chiusole, Mugnos, Inveges, Minutoli, Villabianca and the Methiviere.
It was said that Henry Chamberlain and adviser to King Martin obtained in return for his services the baronies of Sittibillini and Pollicarini 1396, not that all the lands confiscated from the noble rebels of Castrogiovanni.
In 1397 he also donated the barony and the castle of Bozzetta, the castellania and the royal castle of Castrogiovanni, of which he was governor, as from the privilege in r. Chancellery f. 20 1397; and in addition he was awarded the military track; he was the first to settle in that city, making himself the father of Simone, Pietro and Pino, the first baron of Risicalla and Carranciara, not that of the princes of S. Caterina, in which branch flourished: an Enrico Grimaldi baron of Risicalla and Geracello for wedding reasons with Buonaccolta di Piazza; a Bernàrdo baron of Risicalla 1481; a Simenes, a group of Galloni, Caropepe and Favara barons; a Giorgio, captain general of the Prince of Monaco, then to the services of Charles V emperor from whom he obtained fifty gold ducats per year on the income of Sicily 1535 (see R. Cancelleria, f. 549); a Pierandrea, baron of s. Catherine; a 2nd Pierandrea first prince of s. Catherine by concession of King Philip II 1625, who honored him with the treatment of his kinsman, granting him also the right to be titled prince of the castle of Grimaldi, which he proposed to manufacture in the fief of Monaco of his property; firstborn line extinct in 1802 in Emilia Grimaldi, wife of Diego Giardina, marquis of s. Nymphs, whose titles for the death of the three sons declared banned by imbecility went straight to the collateral line represented by 'Grimaldi barons of Geracello, today in the person of the illustrious D. Giuseppe M. Grimaldi and Gravina recognized of the cennato title in 1853 and 60 for the legitimate succession of his elders, and inscribed in the great register of the Heraldic Council of the Kingdom of 1871, a character to say true adorned with great merits, and a cult cult of heraldry and of the homelands of antiquity.
The second son of Henry, that is, Peter was a baron of Pozzetta 1416; line extinct in the principles of Valguarnera for the wedding of Caterina, the only daughter of Giuseppe Grimaldi baron of the Bozzetta, continuing the collateral male descent of it Pietro in the barons of Voltamonaca, today marquises of Terresena. The third son of said Enrico, that is, Pino, was a stock of the barons of Sittibillini, an extinct lineage in the Trigona family, Marquises of Floresta, continuing the collateral line represented by Enrico Grimaldi-Longi of Castrogiovanni. The second to finally go to Sicily was in 1554 an Agostino Grimaldi, son of Francesco of the line of the Grimaldi called Cavalleroni of Genoa; baron of s. Giovanni, who lived in Syracuse and then in Modica, where his family remained, enriched with the baronies of Sirumi, Serravalle, Niscima, Bosco, Calemezano, Piombo, Boncamero and Delia. Ebbe de 'knights of Montesa and Malta; and a Carlo Grimaldi and Rosso was decorated with the title of Prince Grimaldi by King Charles II 1692.
Later the family was transplanted in Mineo, from where diffinitivamente stopped his room in Catania, represented by prince Francesco Grimaldi and Colonna baron of Serravalle brother ultrogenito of prince Giovanni Grimaldi gentleman of room of king Ferdinando II, chamberlain of the great duke of Tuscany, knight gerosolimitano, dead without leaving children, remained in Mòdica the secondary line in the barons of Calamezano. We close with Minutoli giving a look to the 'Jerusalem knights of all the Grimalds of Sicily, which were: Fra' Nicolo; Pietro-Paolo di Castrogiovanni 1589; Girolamo of that city, bali of San Giovanni del Prato of Cremona, of jus patronage of the sovereign princes of Monaco 1611; Agostino di Modica, died in the fight of Retino in Candia 1645; Francesco di Palermo 1676; Giangioachino di Castrogiovanni 1695; and Giuseppe Maria of said city 1808.
A famous representative of the illustrious family was Antonino, son of prince Mario, of the barons of Serravalle, and of Margherita Fiorini, don Antonino was a cavalry colonel and aide-de-camp of the duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoia-Aosta and was mayor of Catania from 10 May 1929 to October 18, 1931.
Weapon: Generally the Grimaldi family has a silver and red fusions shield, with different ornaments. But those of Sicily agree with the authors in agreement: the shield in question; in the 1st and 4th of gold, with the eagle spread out and crowned with black; in the 2nd and 3rd, silver and red castings; above all; of blue, with three golden lilies placed 2,1, which is the arms of France. Crown of prince. The shield is accosted to the eagle biceps on the fly lowered black, tongue and armed with red, crowned to the imperial, grabbing a ribbon with the motto: Deo Juvante.