The Piccione family, original owner of the Pianogrillo estate in

Chiaramonte Gulfi near Ragusa, is native to Acireale, near Catania. Although the two cities are just a couple hundreds kilometers apart, getting from Acireale to Chiaramonte took a couple of centuries, some weddings, a healthy dowry and a good inheritance.

Don Placido Piccione, a judge in Acireale,  was appointed “Barone di Grassura e del Molino di Immezzo” on April 3, 1725. The Piccione family acquired the Pianogrillo estats in the 19th century, thanks to Margherita Guastella Veninata, who was baronessa di Piano del Grillo and a relative of Serafino Amabile Guastella, barone del Grillo, the greatest writer in the Sicilian dialect. Donna Margherita married the noble notary Vito Veninata whose own sister Agata married Don Lorenzo Piccione, a judge under the Bourbon rule. After Donna Agata died, Vito Veninata and donna Margherita adopted their children, one of whom later married baronessa Maria Anna La Rocca Arezzo di San Silvestro.

Donna Maria Anna’s father was barone Don Paolo La Rocca di San Silvestro whose family had acquired the Carnesala estate

in Ragusa as a wedding dowry. Don Nicola Piccione and baronessa Maria Anna renovated the Pianogrillo estate, giving it its current structure.

Most men in the Piccione family were judges under the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. After Italy’s unification under the Savoy

kindgdom,  several of them became officers in the Real Army.

Eventually, the Piccione family moved to Northern Italy, but kept its Sicilian estates and properties.