Palmieri Surname in Italy

The surname Palmieri most likely comes from the medieval term palmerius, used for people who had made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Its origin is therefore devotional: it began as a nickname for a pilgrim and later became a hereditary family name. Historical records show the surname in several parts of Italy already between the 13th and 15th centuries: it appears in Dino Compagni’s Chronicle in 1294, a Matteo Palmieri is mentioned among the supporters of the Medici in 1406, and further traces are found in Florence and Prato in the 15th century. In the 16th century the surname is also documented in southern Italy, with a Palmieri bishop of Matera, and in the 18th century in Poggio Imperiale, in the province of Avellino. Palmieri is therefore a truly pan-Italian surname with a long and well-attested history. The form Palmeri should be treated as a distinct variant, today especially linked with Sicily.