The family are an old landowning family in Corfu, Greece, several members of which have been prominent politicians. They originally hailed from Constantinople, whence they fled following its fall to the Ottomans, eventually settling in Corfu. The painter El Greco (Domenico Theotokopoulos) was descended from a branch of the same family that fled to Crete. The Corfiote branch was ennobled by the Republic of Venice and was entered in the Libro d'Oro; they used to be commonly referred to as Counts ("Cónte"), but their titles lapsed when the Ionian islands became part of the Kingdom of Greece, which did not recognise noble titles.