Family Bettoni
The Bettoni family is a noble Italian family that later became Counts Bettoni. They come from Bienno, a town near Brescia in Lombardy.
In 1684, Lorenzo Bettoni, a merchant, was ennobled after he lent 10,000 ducats to help Venice in its war against the Ottoman Empire. This gift helped him join the Venetian nobility. His uncle Luigi Bettoni, a Dominican friar, was a preacher at Piazza San Marco in Venice.
Nicolo Bettoni, born in 1770, was a printer, editor and typographer. He traveled around Europe and met important people, including Firmin Didot. He was presented to the Emperor of Austria and the Tsar of Russia, and in Paris he met the writer François-René de Chateaubriand. He traveled with his brother Giovanni between 1832 and 1846.
Francesco Bettoni Cazzago, born in 1835, was a writer and professor at the University of Padua. He was the brother of future Senator Ludovico Bettoni and wrote many things about Brescia.
Count Federico Bettoni Cazzago (1865–1923) was a leader in Brescia’s Civil Hospital, president of the Italian Red Cross, and a board member of the Italian Commercial Bank. He was honored as a Grand Officer of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus and was a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
His son, Count Alessandro Bettoni Cazzago (1892–1951), was a skilled rider with a notable military career and competed in the London 1948 Olympic Games.
From another branch in Brescia, Maria Bettoni and her husband Battista Panteghini gave the Simoni-Fè-Montholon Palace for the use of the town of Bienno in 1988. It became a municipal library and cultural center.
Today, the Bettoni Cazzago family still lives at Villa Bettoni in Gargnano, on Lake Garda. They produce and export Franciacorta wine, made from Chardonnay and Pinot grapes, through their estate in Cazzago San Martino to places around the world.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:43 (CET).