At the beginning of the 17th century, a mysterious figure named
Giustiniano arrived on the island of Brač, off the Dalmatian coast. He was a member of the Venetian branch of the illustrious Giustiniani family, one of the Republic's most prominent patrician dynasties, known for its doges, ambassadors, and powerful merchants. The precise reason for Giustiniano's departure from Venice and his arrival on this remote Adriatic island remains unknown, shrouded in the mists of time. Through meticulous papyrological and chronological research, it has been definitively established that this ancestor originated from the Venetian lineage of the Giustiniani family. Following his arrival, his descendants made the town of Bol, on the southern coast of Brač, their home for nearly three centuries. Living in this close-knit community, they gradually integrated with the local population, which in Bol specifically consisted of a community with strong ties to Venice and the local Serb population. When historical circumstances and the shifting tides of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's decline led to their dispersal. The family line was eventually split, with one branch moving to what would become Yugoslavia. The last known direct descendant of this ancient lineage currently resides in Belgrade. Over the centuries, the Venetian surname Giustiniani was adapted to the local South Slavic linguistic context, taking the form of
Justinijanović. Today, this descendant, carrying this unique surname, is known as
Stefan Justinijanović. The family diaspora in the early 20th century, following the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the formation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, resulted in the family being permanently divided between Serbia and Croatia. Consequently, a few individuals bearing the same surname,
Justinijanović, and sharing the same ancestral roots on Brač, can also be found in Croatia today, a living testament to the family's centuries-long journey from Venetian nobility to a modern Balkan reality. The following are also noteworthy: •
Pompeo Giustiniani (1569–1616), a native of Corsica, who served in the Low Countries under
Alessandro Farnese and
Ambrogio Spinola, 1st Marquis of the Balbases, where he lost an arm, and, from the artificial substitute which he wore, came to be known by the sobriquet
Bras de Fer. He also defended
Crete against the
Turks; and subsequently was killed in a reconnaissance in
Friuli. He left in Italian a personal narrative of the war in
Flanders, which has been repeatedly published in a Latin translation (
Bellum Belgicum, Antwerp, 1609). •
Giovanni Giustiniani (1513–1556), born in
Candia (Heraklion, Crete), translator of Terence's
Andria and
Eunuchus, of
Cicero's
In Verrem, and of
Virgil's
Aeneid, viii. • Geronimo Giustiniani, a Genoese, flourished during the latter half of the 16th century. He translated the
Alcestis of
Euripides and three of the plays of
Sophocles; and wrote two original tragedies,
Jephte and
Christo in Passione. •
Vincenzo Giustiniani, who in the beginning of the 17th century built the Roman
Palazzo Giustiniani and made the art collection known by his name and published as
Galleria Giustiniana (Rome, 1631). The collection was removed in 1807 to Paris, where it was to some extent broken up. In an 1808 Paris auction Russian Emperor
Alexandre I, through his personal art advisor Valily Rudanovsky, purchased
The Lute Player, one of the most famous paintings by Caravaggio. The acquisition was facilitated by
Dominique Vivant Denon. In 1815 all that remained of the collection, about 170 pictures, was purchased by the king of
Prussia and removed to
Berlin, where it is conserved in the
Berlin museums. •
Marco Giustiniani, Multiple people •
Andreolo Giustiniani (1385/92 – 1456) : humanist and antiquarian in Chios ==Notable properties==