Savelli family

The Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century and became extinct in the main line with Giulio Savelli (1626—1712).

The family, who held the lordship of Palombara Sabina, took their name from the rocca (castle) of Sabellum, near Albano, which had belonged to the counts of Tusculum before it passed to the Savelli. Early modern genealogies of the Savelli, such as the unpublished manuscript "eulogistic treatise" compiled by Onofrio Panvinio, drew connections to Pope Benedict II, a possible but undocumentable connection, and even to the cognomen Sabellius of Antiquity.

They provided at least one pope: Giacomo Savelli, Honorius IV (1285–1287). His father, Luca Savelli, was a Roman senator and sacked the Lateran in 1234. Luca's decision to side for Emperor Frederick II against Honorius III's successor, Gregory, gained the family large possessions in the Lazio. Honorius' brother, Pandolfo Savelli, was the podestà of Viterbo in 1275.