It is said that the Marassi or Marassini family was already famous in Verona during the brief rule of the Carraresi, lords of Padua, before the city on the banks of the Adige came under Venetian rule.

The original name of the family—Marassi or Marassini—was a nickname derived from “marasso,” a term referring to the marsh viper, a venomous reptile common in many areas of northern Italy. The Marassi coat of arms is therefore depicted with two gold vipers facing each other on a red background.

The Marassi family is likely one of those lineages that emigrated from Vicenza—which was annexed to the Scaliger domain in 1312 following its conquest by Cangrande—to Verona; they were originally from Costabissara, a village about 10 km from the city of Vicenza. In Verona, they acquired the surname “da Brognoligo,” later changed to “Brognoligo,” which derived from their ownership of farmland and a villa in the small municipality of Valle d’Alpone.