The Rubies were a Venetian patrician family, counted among the so-called Houses made for money. According to tradition, the Rubies were originally from Bergamo.
After moving for a while to Asolo, they moved to the lagoon around the XIV century, settling in Cannaregio, in the San Marcilian camp. They enjoyed original Citizenship since 1646 and were active in the field of silk industry.
Since the mid-seventeenth century, the Rubies were related to the Venetian family of Ottoboni: when Cardinal Pietro Vito Ottoboni was elected to the papal throne with the name of Alexander VIII, the young Giambattista Rubini, bishop of Vicenza and nephew of the pope by maternal way , was appointed by his cardinal nephew on February 13, 1690.
By virtue of this illustrious kinship and the huge expenses incurred by this family in support of the Republic, at the time engaged in the war of Candia against the Turks, August 14, 1646 were aggregated to the Venetian patriciate with 876 votes in favor of the Senate. This patrician branch became extinct, between 1734 and 1759, in a Giovanni di Camillo Rubini, Provveditore sopra Banchi, or perhaps in the brother of these, Antonio: their heir was the sister, who married Giovanni di Giovanni Bragadin in 1696 .
In 1700, an exponent of the non-patrician branch of the family, such as Osvaldo Rubini, moved from Venice to Teglio Veneto to follow the family activity in the silk field: his son Pietro, born in 1744, moved to Udine, opening numerous spinning mills throughout the Friuli area, and becoming one of the leading suppliers of fine fabrics of the Hapsburg court. Although the Austrian imperial government did not confirm this house in its nobility Domenico Rubini, descendant of the precedents, is attested with the title of count in 1814, while the nephew of these, his namesake, was decorated by the king of Italy Vittorio Emanuele III of the insignia of Cavaliere dei Santi Maurizio and Lazzaro and of Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown of Italy.
The descendants of the latter still live in Friuli, near Udine and some distant relatives are also attested in Liguria and Tuscany.