Eight centuries of nobility are no trifle for a family, and few other examples of such long-enduring family lines are found in the Almanac of Gotha. Legend recounts that the Salis family came from Etruria with the mythic warrior-leader and hero of the Tusci, Reto. More prosaically, we know that the family of de Salicibus migrated from the Como region to the Bregaglia valley at the beginning of the twelfth century.

Originally from the Swiss Rhaetic region of Canton Grigione, the Salis family were among the patricians of the Como region. The family crest shows a willow tree, to which was later added the black griffon of the Sertoli family. The name Salis – in earlier times de Salicis, de Salicibus, etc. or in the plural Salici (willows) is thought to come from the Latin.

In the 18th century the name seems to have become “von Salis” (for German speakers), “de Salis” (French), and simply “Salis” for Italian and English speakers. We know that in Italy one branch of Salis family settled in Tirano in the mid-seventeenth century, building the remarkable family palazzo, one of the most beautiful in the region.