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House of Gallone Princes of Tricase · the family coat of arms Personage · House of Gallone · Historic Princes
Stefano III Gallone.
3rd Prince of Tricase, 1666 – 1733.
A child prince, raised in Naples under the guardianship of his uncle the abbot, he reigns for fifty-eight years. His two marriages bind the Gallone to the Piedmontese and Neapolitan aristocracy, while the patrimony, left in other hands, dwindles.
Biography.
Stefano III is born in 1666, son of Alessandro III Gallone, 2nd Prince of Tricase, and of Giovanna Trane, of the Dukes of Corigliano, who dies that same year. On his father's death, in 1675, he becomes 3rd Prince of Tricase at nine years old, under the guardianship of his uncle Carlo Gallone, Abbot of Caprarica del Capo and founder of the church of Sant'Angelo in Tricase.
He spends his adolescence in Naples. It is under him that the Neapolitan rooting of the house — mercantile agencies, patronage in the basilica of San Pietro ad Aram — grows deeper: he resides there from 1681 to 1703.
In 1681 his uncle Carlo arranges an advantageous marriage contract for the fifteen-year-old prince: the bride is Giovanna Teresa Colmenero, daughter of a senior officer of the Spanish army, Governor of Vercelli, and of Giovanna Arborio of the Marquesses of Gattinara, "a very wealthy member of the Piedmontese aristocracy at the Court of Savoy".
Two daughters are born, in 1691 and 1693, then the first son, Francesco Alessandro (1694). Another daughter, Deodata, would marry a member of the powerful Piedmontese family of the Natta d'Alfiano.
The young princess soon takes the upper hand in the management of the patrimony: in 1695 Stefano III cedes to her the fiefs of Supersano, Torricella and Floresta and secures for Francesco Alessandro the rights of designated heir.
Giovanna Teresa dies on 15 March 1703. In 1705 Stefano III marries, in second marriage, Lucrezia di Capua, of an ancient and noble Neapolitan family, and moves from Naples to Tricase. With her the descent of Pope Alexander VI, through the branch of Goffredo Borgia, enters the House of Gallone — cf. the papal descents. From the second marriage is born, in 1706, Giuseppe Domenico, future 5th Prince.
The "status" of the house is by now established in the high Neapolitan and Piedmontese nobility, but the economic situation deteriorates, through the heavy expenses of Neapolitan life and the neglect of Stefano III, "a very religious man, more inclined to literary work". The family account records the loss of Specchia Gallone in 1700 and, in 1733, that of Andrano, Tricase, Caprarica del Capo and Nociglia; the 1753 act of possession of Caprarica del Capo, in the name of his son Giuseppe Domenico, shows however that at least that fief remained with the Gallone.
Stefano III dies on 27 January 1733. He is succeeded by his eldest son Francesco Alessandro.
Family tree.
Sources.
- 1 G. Guerri dall'Oro, historical text on the House of Gallone published on the family website (Google Sites version) — guardianship, the marriages of 1681 and 1705, the 1695 cession, the decline of the patrimony.
- 2 L. A. Montefusco, Le successioni feudali in Terra d'Otranto, Tricase, pp. 538-542 (facsimile available on this site) — daughters born in 1691 and 1693, Francesco Alessandro in 1694.
- 3 Day-precision dates (27 January 1733; Giovanna Teresa Colmenero † 15 March 1703): the Heredis genealogical database of Guido Guerri dall'Oro, GEDCOM export of 8 June 2026, consistent with Geni for the death of Stefano III.