Casali

Recorded in many spelling forms including: Casal, Casali, Cazal, Casar, Cazalet, Caseletti, Casalone, and many others, this is a surname of ancient Italian origins. It is ultimately from the Roman (Latin) word "casale" meaning a small house, and as such a derivative of casa meaning a house. There are also a number of places called Casale, so the name can be either locational or topographical. Locational surnames are usually 'from' names. That is to say that they were given to people after they left their original homes and moved elsewhere. it weas one of the easiest forms of identification to call a person by the name of the place from when they came. Spelling being at best erratic, and local accents everywhere, very thick, lead to the development of alternative spellings. In addition although surnames were hereditary from the 14th century, in Italy it was also the tradition in many parts of the country to distinguish between generations of the same family by adding patronymics and diminutive prefix and suffix such as ini or elli as examples to the base name. Not surprisingly this caused great confusion amongst the later researchers. Examples of early surname recordings taken from the surviving Italian church registers of the post medieval period include:Daniele Casale who married Mariam Radina at Piano di Arta, Udine, on June 1st 1673, and later Carmelo Cassara, christened at Gela, Caltanissetta, on March 2nd 1861.