Cavazza seems to have two stocks, in the Verona area, Mantua and in the area that includes the provinces of Modena and Bologna, and in Piedmont, Cavazzi besides a Bolognese stock also seems to have one in the Piacenza area and one in the Sondri area, Cavazzini has a Parma area and one Ferrarese, Cavazzoni is specific to the area that includes Mantua, especially Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna, all of which should derive from the medieval name Cavatia, or from its hypochoristic or accretive, or from the name Cavatinus. Traces of these surnames can be found, for example, in the Diplomatic Code of medieval Lombardy, where in a Carta vendicionis written in Vimercate (MI) on 8 July 1180, we read: "... Signum + + manuum Marcadi Cavatie et Petri Cavatie propincorum suprascripte Adelaxie qui eam interrogaverunt ut supra. Et ibi interfuerunt Iohannes Cavatia and Armaninus Cavatia atque Grilionus de Bonate testium ... ", in Mombasiglio (CN) in 1500 we find such Christoforus Cavatia and Cavatinus Cavatia. additions provided by Giovanni Vezzelli The surname Cavazza starts from a place called Cavazza, from the Middle Ages cava «moat, low place, valley», almost certainly from Ferrara. We find in fact among the witnesses of a deed of donation of land, drawn up in Ferrara in 1195, but lying in the Capitolare Archive of the Duomo of Modena, a «Petrobonus de Cavaça» and a «Girardinus de Cavaça», certainly from Ferrara. The surname, also in the Cavazzi form, is present in Modena, Carpi, Castelfranco Emilia, Solara. The locality Cavazzona takes its name from the derivative Cavazzoni, in com. of Castelfranco Emilia. Another derivative is Cavazzini. Source: F. Violi, Surnames in Modena and in the Modena area.
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