E’ stata celebrata da numerosi autori, la famiglia Nicola, detta pur anticamente di Nicolò e di Nicola, a seconda della pronunzia delle lingue. Questa famiglia dunque visse anticamente in molte Città di Sicilia con splendore; si annoverano nei molti volumi araldici, Gerardo Nicola, prefetto e custode del Palazzo del re Lodovico di Sicilia, il cui figlio Giovanni Nicola fu visitatore delle fortezze del Regno, sotto il re Martino, e si casò in Messina con una nobile Dama di Casa Crisafi, con la quale procreò Gerardo, e Benedetto, che militarono per il loro re, Alfonso, nel Regno di Napoli. Perciò Gerardo, oltre a buone ricompense, fu armato da quel Re, del Regio Cavaliero; e Benedetto acquistò, per i suoi servigi, la Vigna del regale territorio grande, nella Val Domona, nella quale successe suo figlio Antonio, che fu, per molti anni, sindaco della Città di Messina, il quale con Mannella Capui, sua moglie, nobile messinese, procreò Benedetto, dottor di legge e giudice straticoziale, Pietro Antonio e Francesco, che si impiegò nella milizia, e divenne valoroso soldato, servendo il suo re, Filippo II, nell’anno 1556 entrò nella Compagnia del marchese di Misuraca Cavalier Spagnolo, col carico d Foriero maggiore; il detto Francesco Nicola, condusse detta Compagnia nel Presidio delle Marine di Puglia, per custodia del Regno; perciò si casò egli nella Città di Bitonto con Livia Calò, figlia del Dottor Marino Calò, celebre avvocato dei suoi tempi con ricca dote, e successione al suocero.. Riguardo a questo cognome abbiamo ritrovato ulteriori informazioni storiche in altri archivi. Purtroppo in lingua originale Inglese. : The Last Name of NICOLA was a baptismal name ‘the son of CLAUSEN’ a form of NICHOLAS, which was a name meaning ‘people’s victory’. The name was popular among Christians throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, largely as a result of the fame of a 4th century Lycian bishop, about whom a large number of legends grew up, and who was venerated in the Orthodox Church as well as the Catholic. East European forms of this name are spelt with the initial M, as Mikulas in Poland. The name was sometimes borne by women in the Middle Ages. After the Crusades in Europe, in the 11th 12th and 13th century people started, perhaps unconsciously, to feel the need of a family name, or at least a name in addition to the simple one that had been possessed from birth. The nobles and upper classes, euniquely those who went on the Crusades, observed the prestige and practical value of an added name, and were quick to take a Last Name. The name may also have denoted someone who farmed land belonging to a monastery, and who paid rent in the form of provisions for the monks. The name has numerous variant spellings which include NICOLAS, NICKLESS, NICHOL, NICKOL, NICKEL, NICKLE, NICOLAU, NICCOLAI, NICHOLS and NICOLLIC, to name but a few. Notables of the name include NICHOLAS I (The Great) (circa. 820-867) pope from 858 to 867. He asserted the supremacy of the church against secular rulers such as Lothair, king of Lorraine (whose divorce he forbade) and church leaders like the archbishop of Reims. His feast day is 13th November. NICHOLAS II, primarily Gerard of Burgundy (circa. 980-1061), pope from 1058 to 1061. NICHOLAS V, primarily Pietro Rainalducci (died. 1033) antipope from 1328 to 1330. Otto NICOLAI (1810-49) the German composer, born in Konigsberg. In 1847 he became kapellmeister at Berlin, where his opera ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’ was produced before he died. William NICOL (circa.1744-1797) was the Scottish schoolmaster, a classics master in the High School of Edinburgh. He was a friend of Robert Burns, who immortalized him in the poem ‘Wllie Brewed a Peck O’Maut’. The lion depicted in the arms is the noblest of all wild beasts which is made to be the emblem of strength and valour, and is on that account the most frequently borne in Coat-Armour….
Noble title: Conti – Nobili
Coat of arms: Spaccato d’argento e di rosso; colla fascia d’oro attraversante, sormontata da un giglio dello stesso per inchiest…