Some things are known about the Ricca family. The name, itself, means "rich." This was not the original name; it was a play on words for "poor," for the originators of the family came from France with Peter Waldo and the Poor Men of Lyons (12th and 13th Centuries). The name was changed to protect them, as the original name, now lost, marked them as what they were: Heretics.
There were pre-Nicene strains of Christianity (and other religions) that survived the Dark Ages, and were viewed as heresies by the Nicene orthodoxy. The Cathars and the Albigenses were the big ones, descended from both Manichaean and Gnostic strains.
The story goes that the family fled the massacres at Montparnasse and elsewhere to Lyons, and from there to Piedmont. In fact, the Canavese Alps are still called "the Cathar Alps" or the "heretic Alps" by some.
It is not known when the Ricca family had been assimilated into mainstream Catholicism, but in similar families, it went back and forth over several generations (See Montaillou: The Promised Land of Error, by Emmanuel LeRoy LaDruie for an excellent historical overview of this process). Certainly by the late 19th century, the Ricca families were solidly Catholic in Italy.
In the years after World War II, Europe has seen a renaissance in interest in the Cathar heresies. If you are interested in the Cathars--whose history is our own--see the Links Page where I offer some starting points. Most of the better sites are in French, but more all the time offer English translations.
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