Black nobility

The black nobility or black aristocracy (Italian: nobiltà nera, aristocrazia nera) are Roman aristocratic families who sided with the Papacy under Pope Pius IX after the Savoy family-led army of the Kingdom of Italy entered Rome on 20 September 1870, overthrew the Pope and the Papal States, and took over the Quirinal Palace, and any nobles subsequently ennobled by the pope prior to the 1929 Lateran Treaty.^[1][2]

Coat of arms of the Colonna family and the Orsini family, respectively. Both were black nobility descended from medieval and Renaissance papal families.

For the next 59 years, the pope confined himself to Vatican City and claimed to be a prisoner in the Vatican to avoid the appearance of accepting the authority of the new Italian government and state.^[2] Aristocrats who had been ennobled by the pope and were formerly subjects of the Papal States, including the senior members of the papal court, kept the front doors of their palaces in Rome closed to mourn the pope's confinement, which led to their being called the "black nobility".^[1]