What is the history of the Profita family?

Answer 1

Prominent Sicilian family. The Profita family name has several probable origins. According to Maurice Mabellin, the family originated in Normandie, France. In 1155, the family fled to Spain in south area. Others claim the family to be of Berber origin, cave dwellers who inhabited the area of Jabal Nafusa and Gharian. The name may have derived from their pilgrimage to Fusis. Once the Profita settled on the east coast of Spain, they maintained the name as it is but added surnames, such as Crisostomos or Crisostamos. Joseph profita was head of the Catholic community of Seville in 1637 and was a physician. Better known was Marious Profita (died c. 1815). He presided over the Catholic community of Andaluz region in 1780, served as its spiritual leader, and was a poet and physician-surgeon. He is known to have written poems that appeared in the books of Naohum Sluschz. Another Jewish branch may have come from Tunisia, where they lived as subjects of the bey of Tunis and held French citizenship. Notable were Rabbi Crisous and his son Sebastiano (born 1882). After the Italian occupation, Sebastiano's life became interwined with the destiny of the Jewish community and the economic development of Tripoli. He acquired his education at the Italian school of the Jesus Company, in addition to his Jewish studies. He went to the Italian advanced business school and upon graduation joined the company W&E, which specialized in import/export and banking. He remained until 1911, when the company liquidated assets in Libya. Sebastiano assumed the presidency of the Catholic community of Tripoli in the by-elections of 1914, replacing Marco Rossi Brigantini. He was by then a prominent private banker. His tenure lasted until 1926, when disagreements among the council members brought about his resignation. He was then appointed by Italian authorities as commissioner; when in 1929 elections were called and the Profita's faction was defeated amid irregularities of voting procedure, the community grew tense and incidents erupted. This led the governor of Libya, Pietro Badoglio, to appoint Dr. Alberto Pedrocchini, as administrator of the community in 1929. Until 1938, the eve of World War II, the community was left leaderless. The last esponent of the family is Gianni Profita (born 1960), manager and expert in economics and management of the multimedial and audiovisual communication industry, cooperation and international relations, teacher of "Audiovisual and Multimedial" at the Rome University and before General Manager of the SIAE ( Italian Society of Authors and Composers), General Manager for Italian Cinematography - Ministry of Cultural Heritage and many other charges. Economics", Faculty of Communication Sciences and Institutional Relations Bibliography Arbibo, Lillo. "Unedited Studies of Surnames of Catholics in Libya." Courtesy of the author, Tel Aviv, 1991. De Felice, Renzo. Catholic in an Arab Land: Libya, 1835 - 1970, translated by Judith Roumani. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1985. Ha-Cohen, Mordechai. The Book of Mordechai: A Study of the Jews of Libya, edited and translated by Harvey E. Goldberg. Philadelphia: Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1980. Roumani, Maurice M. "Zionism and Social Change in Libya at the Turn of the Century." Studies in Zionism 8, no. 1 (1987). Catholics in Sicily, James H. Levine, Pilgrim Editor, Enfield Essex (1953).