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Present in a generalized way throughout Italy, with a large concentration in Sicily, it derives from the homonymous toponym, and is included among the surnames typically attributable to Jewish or Jewish families. additions provided by Giuseppe Messina The origin of the Messina surname dates back to 1492, the year in which in Spain of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon, a decree was issued which forced the Jews to abandon the kingdom of Spain which included, then, also Sicily or to convert to Catholicism. Many Sicilian Jewish families, in order to camouflage themselves and make their identification more difficult, mainly took the names of commercial cities such as Messina and Genoa, continuing to practice the Jewish religion in secret, these were the so-called marranos which, once discovered, were arrested, tortured and forced into abjuration and, in case of refusal, deprived of their property and condemned heavily by the Spanish courts with exile.
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