The Ventimiglia were a noble Italian family with fiefdoms in Liguria and Southern Italy.
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The Ventimiglia family originated from the union of Serlone II d'Hauteville, a godson and relative of Ruggero Gran Count of Sicily, and his wife Lady Isabella.
When Roger II of Sicily (1095–1154), of Norman ancestors died in 1154, married in 1117 to Elvira Alfónsez of Castile, a bastard daughter of king Alfonso VI of Castile with Moorish blood tracked down to Prophet Muhammad, their 5th child, William I of Sicily (1131–1166) became the second king of Sicily since 1130 and married Royal princess Margaret of Navarre, Spain. Thus, trade benefits flowed from the Christian Basque Country, Christian Portugal, Christian Catalonia, Christian Castile and the Spanish Muslim Princes of Sevilla, Málaga, Granada, Murcia, Valencia, Mallorca and Almeria, the Arabic-Norman place being a coveted outpost for international trade with Byzantium, Cyprus, Palestine pilgrimages and Egypt. Gold, ivory and slaves came also from the (black peoples populated) South of the Sahara desert via the actual Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.
This marital union gave origin to the ancestors of Ventimiglia line, the possibles successors of Serlon were: Eliusa, Rinaldo di Bernaville, Rocca di Bernaville, Ruggero I de Creon count of Ischia and Geraci, Guerrera de Creon countess, Ruggero II count of Ischia and Geraci, Alduino count, Isabella who married Count Enrico II of Ventimiglia son of count Filippo I of Ventimiglia and del Maro (Albenga). The French branch uses de Vintimille and the Spanish branch uses de Veintimilla or Veintimiglia (branch of Màlaga).
Another branch, the Lascaris (di Ventimiglia) Conti di Tenda, is descended in female line from the Laskaris of the Empire of Nicaea through the marriage in 1262 of Guglielmo Pietro I , Conte di Ventimiglia, Signore de Tenda (d. 1282) with Eudokia Laskarina (1245–1311), daughter of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris and wife Princess Elena of Bulgaria.[1] Empress Josephine de Beauharnais is a descendant from it. A branch also located in Sicily and the husband of one of them founded Ventimiglia di Sicilia. Some impoverished members of the Sicilian branch went to the United States of America.
Coordinates: 37°48′N 14°12′E, San Mauro, today San Mauro Castelverde, island of Sicily, Italy, Coordinates: 37°55′N 14°12′E, Pollina, island of Sicily, Italy, Coordinates: 38°0′N 14°9′E, Caronia (from 1412), island of Sicily, Italy, Montesarchio, Bitonto, Serracapriola, Castellamare di Stabia...Coordinates: 38°01′N 14°26′E Praetor of Palermo in 1416 and 1417, Grande Ammiraglio del Regno (Grand Admiral of the Kingdom), Viceré di Sicilia, (Viceroy of Sicily), 1430–1432, 1438.