Recorded in a various forms including Scola, Scoli and Scolli, this is an Italian surname. According to the Dictionary of Italian Surnames the name is occupational for a glove maker. Unfortunately as the dictionary also goes on to say that "the subject (Italian surnames) is unusually complicated... and we have dealt with each surname under the class that might belong". The latter is the most relevant remark as quite clearly the spellings mean different things in different parts of Italy. In effect most Italian surnames have been hereditary since the Middle Ages, but a major complication has been that each sucessive generation has added or subtracted either prefix or suffix to the surname, to the point where the original spelling could be reduced to two or even only one letter! Not surprisingly this makes both genealogy and etymology very difficult subjects. A further complication is that until 1860 Italy was a loose federation of twelve states. These individual states paid only lip service to recordings of any kind, however in this case we have found a few examples in the Italian central records including Maria Scola, who married Pasquale Cristiano at Caserta, on June 8th 1822, and slightly later that of Virginia Scola, who was christened at Meola, Venezia, on May 4th 1829.

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