In the year 956 Aldobrandino de Nobili received from Otto I of Saxony the investiture of the hamlet of Labro and 12 other castles and settlements in the district of the Duchy of Spoleto and the county of Rieti. The emperor gave the family the coat of arms with the crowned eagle, symbol of the Holy Roman Empire, and the fish, which represented the family’s dominion over the waters of the region.
Originally, the encastellation of Labro consisted of an imposing square tower towering above the village, which was in turn surrounded by a castling road protected by defensive walls comprising seven other towers. In 1498, the family was excommunicated by Pope Sixtus IV. The reason for the excommunication was the killing of a priest that occurred at the hands of Giovanni de’ Nobili. The consequence of the excommunication was the destruction of the great tower and part of the village. The revocation of the excommunication, preserved to this day in the castle archives, stipulated that a church be built in place of the large square tower. The family was left with the city walls, where Giordano de’ Nobili built the new residence for the family, still inhabited by his descendants. The origin of the surname Nobili comes from the appellation by which the Lords of Labro were designated.
In 1575 Gerolamo de Nobili married Virginia Vitelleschi, and at the request of Virginia’s family, particularly her brother Muzio Vitelleschi, VI general of the Jesuits, the surname Vitelleschi was added to Nobili and the two coats of arms were combined into one. The act officially sanctioning the union of the surnames and coats of arms is preserved in the Capitoline archives. An authentic copy is in the Nobili Vitelleschi Archives in Labro.
A large heart-shaped wooden coat of arms in black and gold, made to celebrate the union between the two families and the two coats of arms, can still be seen today in the castle’s hall of arms. The current coat of arms includes the eagle and fish symbols of the Nobili family and the two calves with fleurs-de-lis of Florence symbols of the Vitelleschi family.