The Randazzo family of Ustica rank 8th in size, but there are a lot of non-Ustican Randazzo in New Orleans accounting for as much as 30% at the Randazzo family charts in the Ustica Genealogy Homepage. The Randazzo family of San Giuseppe Jato (20 miles southwest of the city of Palermo) are renowned in New Orleans for their king cakes, a Mardi Gras pastry much beloved in the city. Still, the Randazzo family of Ustica are one of the larger families descended from Ustica. In the US, the surname underwent a radical respelling becoming Ranatza. Those with the surname Ranatza are all descendants of Gaetano Randazzo and Carmela Palmisano. Other US descendants still go by the original, Randazzo, or a slightly modified, Randazza.

The Randazzo are a first family of Ustica, appearing in the Ustica church registers in 1764 with Giuseppe Randazzo serving as a godparent at a baptism. He is believed to be the same Giuseppe Randazzo that married on Ustica in 1766 to Giuseppa LaRosa. His father Gaetano Randazzo also came to Ustica, dying there in 1782, but his mother, Angela Pirera had died on Lipari sometime prior to 1758. The descendants of Giuseppe Randazzo and Giuseppa LaRosa account for 45% of all the Randazzo recorded at the UGH. They, however, were not the only branch of the family to contribute to the lineage. A first cousin of Gaetano Randazzo, Antonino Randazzo, also married on Ustica in 1766. He and his wife, Nunziata Taranto, account for 16% of the Randazzo descendants and also contributed to the population of Randazzo in the US. They would take a more circuitous route first settling on the island of Lampedusa before migrating to the US.

Lampedusa was home to some of the Randazzo descendants that ultimately made their way to the US. It was acquired from Maltese/British interests in the 1840s and settled mostly by immigrants from Ustica who were recruited to populate the island.

Back on Lipari, the family traces back three more generations to Dionisio Randazzo and Lucretia Cappichiano. The first record of a Randazzo in the Lipari church registers is for a baptism of their child in 1657. Dionisio Randazzo is documented as being from Patti, one of the cities in the hot spot on mainland Sicily that was home to so many immigrants to Lipari. The Capicchiano family is an old-line Lipari family tracing back to the very earliest of Lipari church records in 1561. The couple were likely married on Lipari but no record of that marriage has been found. Use the family charts at the Ustica Genealogy Homepage to discover your path back to the ancient origins of the Randazzo/Ranatza family of Ustica.

The Randazzo family of Ustica traces its ancient origins back to the city of Patti in northeastern Sicily. Lipari lies due north of Patti.