The Camerino Family of Gessopalena: Mercantile and Professional Networks Between Gesso and Lanciano (Late 16th–Early 17th Century)

 The Camerino family of Gessopalena is first documented in the earliest known notarial records compiled by Claudio Paglione (1580s–1600s), where they are consistently associated with mercantile activities, medical practices, and landholdings. This appear to have remained does not remain in Gessopalena beyond the early 17th century, but the susuggestrecords point to a short-lived presence of considerable social and professional standing.

Two principal male lines are documented in the Gessopalena church and civil records from this period:

• Dr. Antonio Camerino (medico)
   
• Vincenzo (Vincentio) Camerino
   

Additional figures—including Valentino Camerino and Giovan Geronimo Camerino of Lanciano—establish a broader Camerino network spanning Gessopalena, Lanciano, and the surrounding territory.

The surname Camerino also has a known Jewish historical context in the Marche region (see research note below). While this does not imply a direct correlation, the coincidence of surname and merchant-medical activity provides an important comparative note.

Overall, the Camerini of Gessopalena represent a professional, landholding, and merchant lineage who operated within the commercial orbit of Lanciano—then a major fair center of the Kingdom of Naples—and may have ultimately reintegrated into urban networks after leaving Gesso.

 Summary of Camerino Presence in Gessopalena

A recurring title—Medico and Magnifico—appears with Antonio Camerino, indicating formal education and elevated social rank. Acts identify:

• A family apothecary (Apoteca of heirs of Persii Camerini)
   
• Marriages into established local houses (Tiberino, Taliano)
   
• Landholdings in strategic central zones:
  Contrada della Porta, Piedi Castello, Ruga Aquaria, dell’Hospitale, Rusci, Vallone, Fonte delle Pergole
   

These were elite residential and productive zones, suggesting Camerino's integration into Gesso's urban and ecclesiastical core.

2. Lanciano Trade and Commercial Integration

The Camerini maintained commercial access to Lanciano’s famed fiere (fairs)—a major Adriatic trade hub. A key 1608 act shows:

• Giovan Geronimo Camerino of Lanciano
   
• Business with the Peschi family in Gessopalena
   
• Work in the aromataria (spice, apothecary trade)
   
• Payments in ducati and carlini
   
• Contractual obligations in Lanciano
   

This places the Camerini among the few Gessani documented with inter-provincial commercial operations—an indicator of status and mobility.

Valentino's will situates the Camerini as a wealthy, pious, and strategically allied family, with:

• Bequests to four Gessopalena churches (Santa Maria Raccomandata, Santa Maria Maggiore, Rosario, Sant'Egidio)
   
• Landholdings at Fonte delle Pergole, Sant'Angelo
   
• Naming of heirs from Taliano, Tiberino, and his own clan
   

The will reveals multi-branch intermarriage and confirms Camerino as a landed family with ecclesiastical obligations and elite burial patronage.

 Comparative Note: Camerino and Jewish Mercantile History

Research into the city of Camerino (Marche) documents a Jewish mercantile and banking lineage known as “Da Camerino,” active from the 13th–16th centuries in lending and international trade. The name appears elsewhere in Italy as a Jewish surname (Camerino/Camerini).

 Important: 

There is no claim of direct connection between the Gessopalena Camerini and the Jewish Camerino/Camerini families of the Marche.
However, given:

• the surname’s rarity in Abruzzo
   
• its concentration in professional/mercantile classes
   
• their demonstrable Lanciano trading ties
   

…it is suitable to note this as an open comparative context, not a genealogical assertion.

The Camerino family of Gessopalena represents a brief but meaningful episode in the town’s late Renaissance social landscape. Their presence bridges rural elite networks, urban commerce, medical practice, and ecclesiastical patronage. Their likely return to Lanciano marks them as an illustrative example of fluid professional families in the Abruzzo–Adriatic economy, whose influence exceeded their duration in the locality.

 Interpretation

The Camerino of Gessopalena form a short-lived but high-status professional and mercantile elite embedded in:

• Medical and apothecary practice
   
• Commercial routes between Gesso and Lanciano
   
• Landholding in strategic ecclesiastical and productive zones
   
• Intermarriage with Tiberino & Taliano
   
• Support of local churches and confraternities
   

Their pattern resembles urban-trained professional families temporarily positioned in monastic/feudal micro-centers, then returning to urban networks (likely Lanciano).

(to be formatted footnote-style in final dossier)

• Paglione, Vol. I (1591, pp. 27, 41; 23; 10; 21; 3) 
• Paglione, Vol. II (1594, pp. 23, 49; 1608, p. 40; 1598, p. 1; 1604, p. 3)
  Secondary Note
• Italian Judaica: Camerino, Jewish Merchant Records (13th–16th c.)