Epilogue

The destinies of the descendants of Girolamo Della Torre and his Venetian bride, Giulia Bembo, were shaped by a feudal culture based on blood and soil that would gradually change to a culture with respect for the rule of civil law. They were also shaped, and not for the better, by a change in inheritance practice from comunella (equal shares to the patriline) to primogeniture. The clan solidarity of the sixteenth century of Girolamo and his brothers and sons eroded and was replaced by a culture of individualism, competition, and potential intrafamily strife. It is no small irony that despite efforts by both the Della Torre and Bembo families to preserve their patrimonies through large families and an unbroken succession of male heirs, the last survivor in the paternal bloodline of each was a daughter.