> I am just starting to look into my family name coat of arms ( code > of arms ) and some backgroung history and origins. > > Please tell me good sources from which to start investigating if > possible on the web. > > My father family name is: DESIDERIO Mother family name: PRESUTTI > > both of Italian origin. > > I thank you all that tell me any information regarding my lastnames > and web sites on which to find some origin backgroung, history and > coat of arms ( code of arms ) > > Mario <mandm@flashnet.it> First = find out exactly where in Italy your family originated. There are 1,176 DESIDERIO listings & 566 PRESUTTI in the Italian Phone Book (at this time) Reference: (lookup does not include cell phones, unlisted lines, e) http://elenco.libero.it/elencotel/public/RicercaOmonimie.jsp Read this BASIC outline of how to do your own Italian Genealogy Research: http://www.envirocare.net/genealogy/free_genealogy_research.html If you are in Italy, or anyplace in the world, the steps are still the same, trace backwards generation-by-generation, record, by record until you find your Family Tree. Coats of Arms, really a Family Crest, are big business and often there are those who try to take advantage of the gullible. Purchasing a cute little picture or something inexpensive "for fun" doesn't matter. However, the Italian Government regularly closes down the big-business of heraldry "con-artists" who try to take advantage of people in this "business of selling coat of arms, etc" charging naïve individuals thousands of dollars. Please know that the Crest, like the Title, belongs to an individual and not to a family or clan. Think of it as a license granted to a specific person and only to that person. Although there may be a crest/coat of arms (or several different crests for a single surname) associated with one's surname usually the only way most people may be connected is that the "noble" who was granted the Coat of Arms employed the family in his serfdom or castle hundreds of years ago and so the family began to use the Noble's Surname to indicate where they were from. "Tea Cup" <not-here@antispam.edu>