By Michael San Filippo
What's in an Italian last name? Ask Leonardo da Vinci. Piero della Francesca. Alessandro Botticelli. Or Domenico Ghirlandaio. They were all great artists of the Italian Renaissance, and their surnames paint a picture too.
On the Map
Historically, many Italian last names were based on where a person lived or was born. Leonardo da Vinci's family was from Vinci, a town in eastern Tuscany—hence his last name, meaning "from Vinci." Ironically, during his lifetime, he was referred to solely by his first name.
Source: http://italian.about.com/
