The family originates in Sessa (Caserta)
The first historical evidence about the Monarca family can be found around 1300 in Sessa — current Sessa Aurunca, a town of 22,000 inhabitants in the province of Caserta, Italy.
According to some sources1, the Monarca surname was introduced by a branch of the Tata family, of Jewish origin, present in Sessa since 1300, which converted to Christianity at the time of the edict of expulsion of the Jews in 1541, issued by the Emperor Charles V.
Gasparro Fuscolillo, a well-known local historian, reported in his “Chronicle”, around the middle of the 1500s, that “missere Beldisarro de' Minarcha” was elected “Grassiere” (magistrate of the land) of Sessa in 1551, that “Silvio de' Minarcha, called Tata” was “Grassiere” in 1556 and later “Mastro Portolano” (Urban and Water Authority) in 1557.
According to other sources, however, the Monarca name was introduced following the authorisation given by a King of Naples, grateful for the hospitality received at a family (Piscicelli?) in Sessa.
In any case, in 1609 we find the first mayor of Sessa belonging to the family3, “Giulio Gaetano Monarca de' Monarca”, evidence that the family had locally acquired influence and prestige. In 1656, the year that saw the plague hit Sessa, Antonio Monarca led the local “Confraternita del SS. Rosario”4, considered the confraternity of the nobles, where, at that time, only members of the city's high-ranking families were accepted.