Recorded as Stacca, Stacchetti, Stacchini and Stachini, this is one of the many Italian surnames for a horse or horseman. Italian surnames are traditionally the most difficult to research with accuracy. Although hereditary from at least medieval times, they rarely became fixed in their spelling until the late 19th century, and often literally changed from generation to generation as each successive wave of the family added or subtracted both suffix and prefix at will, with diminutives such as '-ini', '-etti', '-etto', '-illo', all of which have the same basic meaning of 'son of'. This added to the general problem that from the fall of the Roman Empire in the 6th century a.d. until about 1860, Italy was at best a collection of individual states, mostly quite poor, and all with their own language or dialect. In the circumstances it is not surprising that such central registers as exist are quite recent, unlike England and Scotland in particular, who have consistent records back to at least the 12th century. Other names which describe either a horseman, a horse breeder, or perhaps somebody who lived at a house or inn with the sign of a horse include Cavallo, Cavallini, Cavaletto, from Bergamasca, Zaballi, Zavallone, Zavalloni from Piedmont, Equinni, Stallone and Manarino from Calabrese, and generally, Frisoni meaning a draft horse, Rovani a roan, Corridori a race horse, and many others

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