Our Crest & Origin
The “Scavone” surname was probably born during the Roman Empire; at the time it was noticing a Slave and in particular a person which was originary from Scavonia, an Old Illyrian region during Julius Caesar. Nowadays this country can be identified with the oriental coast of the Adriatic Sea; is was occupied by the Illyrians, an ancient population probably speaking an indoeuropean language. From them were born the actual Albanians.
Illyrians arrived in the west part of the Balcanic Peninsula about 1000 years b.C., between the end of the Bronze Age and the start of the Iron Age. After 1000 years they arrived to occupy a wide region around the Danubius river.
The Illyrian reign of King Bardhylus became a very important strategical centre during the IV century b.C.; during Queen Teuta’s reign, Illyrians attacked Roman merchantil ships in the Adriatic Sea and so Rome decided to invade the Balcanians.
Romans exported food (wine, cheese, oil, fish) and feedstocks (copper, clay and silver); after the Roman conquer, not only there probably were a lot of volunteer migrations to the Southern Italy (e.g. Sicily, Basilicata), but also slave trades to the Roman colonies in the Mediterranean Sea (e.g. Malta). There are some documents certifying a presence of some “Scavone” famiglie between 1500 and 1700 a.C. in the Maltese Island before there were in Italy; between 18th and 19th centuries our surname seems to be widely used in Sicily (especially in the county of Catania and Trapani) and in Basilicata (Potenza and its county).
Emigration between 19th and 20th centuries sees many Italians leaving to America; there are lots of document certifying many people having “Scavone” as surname and mostly coming from Southern Italy; a great majority settled in the Northern East States (NY, PA), where our surname still results particulary widely used. Other states in which the “Scavone” surname results are Canada (ON, QC), South America (Argentina, Brazil) and, for what concernes Europe, Southern France. Small concentration also are in Staffordshire, a central region of Great Britain.
What about Italy?
Our surname has an evident southern origin; Sicily and Basilicata (Apulia and Campania in a smaller number) are the Italian regions in which “Scavone” results mostly used: in fact, the 5% of the people living in Trapani has as surname Scavone , which it also is the 128th widely used surname in the province of Trapani. In Basilicata and particulary in Ruoti, near Potenza, diffusion gets to 10%.
This surname is also used in the North Western part of Italy and especially in the counties of Milan and Turin, probably because of the strong migrations during the second post-war.
http://www.ancestry.com
http://cognome.alfemminile.com
http://cognomi.sapere.alice.it/
http://sicilia.indettaglio.it/ita/cognomi/motore/motore_sql.html?Cognome=Scavone&Modo=E
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:IllyrianWars.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Illyrians.jpg