Ventura Surname in Italy

Ventura is a pan-Italian surname, but its main branches and variants show distinct regional patterns. Venturella is chiefly Sicilian, especially in the Palermo area, with concentrations in Monreale, Palermo, Castelbuono and Campofelice di Roccella. Venturi and Venturini are typical of central and northern Italy. Venturin is strongly Venetian, above all in the provinces of Venice, Padua, Treviso and Belluno. Venturelli is found mainly in Lombardy, the Verona area and the Emilian provinces of Modena and Bologna. Venturello appears to be Piedmontese, between Turin and Asti. Venturino has several distinct roots, in the Savona and Genoa area, as well as in Rome, Campania, the Crotone area and the Catania area. Venturoli is characteristic of the Bologna area, especially Bologna itself, but also Budrio, Castel Maggiore, Molinella, Granarolo dell'Emilia, San Pietro in Casale, Casalecchio di Reno and Ferrara.

These forms are most likely connected by apheresis to the medieval given name Bonaventura, probably borne by the earliest ancestors, though a direct derivation from the medieval name Ventura is also possible. Ventura was a rare personal name used as an auspicious wish, implying good fortune. Medieval records attest to this given name from the 11th century onward in northern and northwestern Italy. In Friuli, Venturini is explained from several men named Venturinus or Vinturinus who came from Lombardy to Friuli between 1280 and 1300 in the retinue of Patriarch Raimondo Della Torre; their descendants were then recorded as filius Venturini or simply Venturini.