The Filotti Family: A Historical and Genealogical Overview

Origins in Naxos and Migration to Moldavia (17th Century)

The Filotti family traces its roots to the Greek island of Naxos in the early 17th century. The progenitor was Ion Filotti (Greek name Ίων Φιλώτης), a Greek from Naxos who entered the service of Gaspar Graziani, Voivode (Prince) of Moldavia. In 1619, Ion accompanied Prince Graziani to the Principality of Moldavia (then under Ottoman suzerainty). The following year Graziani was assassinated, but Ion Filotti managed to escape the turmoil. Seeking safety under Ottoman protection, he fled south across the Danube and settled in Brăila, a port-town which at the time was an Ottoman-administered enclave (raya) on the Wallachian frontier. Ion brought with him his young son Ștefan Filotti, and together they laid the foundation for the family’s long presence in the Danubian region.

Once established in Brăila, Ion Filotti married and started a commercial venture that would define the family’s fortunes for generations. He and Ștefan became grain merchants, known in Romanian as “zaheregii”, specializing in supplying cereals and dried fodder (hay) to the Ottoman Army. This grain provisioning business thrived thanks to Brăila’s strategic position and the constant demand of the Ottoman military. By the mid-1600s, the Filotti family had thus secured a role as important suppliers to the empire’s forces, marking the beginning of two centuries of prosperity based on commerce.

It is worth noting the family’s Greek origins during this period. Local records on Naxos indicate that a branch of the Filotti (Filotis) family remained on the island for some time, though it eventually died out. (The village of Filóti on Naxos — which shares the family’s name — is a reminder of these roots.) In Wallachia and Moldavia, however, Ion Filotti’s lineage took deep root and gradually assimilated into Romanian society, while retaining memories of its Aegean ancestry.

The Grain Trade in Ottoman Brăila (17th–18th Centuries)

For over 200 years, roughly from the 1620s through the eighteenth century, the Filotti family continued to prosper as grain and fodder merchants. Ștefan Filotti succeeded his father Ion and maintained the family business, which became known regionally for reliably provisioning Ottoman garrisons. Brăila’s status as an Ottoman-controlled free port enabled the Filottis to operate relatively autonomously, tapping into the rich grain-producing hinterlands of Wallachia and Moldavia.

Through several generations – Ion and his son Ștefan, followed by their descendants – the Filottis remained closely involved in this military supply trade. Contemporary records refer to them as “zaheregii”, a term designating purveyors of dry goods (especially grain, biscuits, and hay) for army use. This niche brought both wealth and a measure of influence: the family had connections both with local Romanian boyar elites and Ottoman officials, navigating the complex political landscape of the time. Each generation handed down the profession, and by the 1700s the Filotti name was well-established in Brăila’s mercantile circles.

Genealogically, the family’s continuity through the 17th–18th centuries can be sketched from father to son. After Ion (c.1600–c.1660) and Ștefan Filotti (c.1640–c.1700), the line continued with Ion Filotti II (c.1680–c.1735) and Ștefan Filotti II (c.1720–c.1775), followed by Stoian Filotti (c.1750–c.1800). These successive patriarchs kept the family trade alive. By the late 18th century, one of Stoian’s descendants, Ion Filotti (c.1780–c.1835), was at the helm of the business. Under his management the family’s merchant activities persisted into the early 1800s – until a major geopolitical shift in 1829 altered their course.

1829: The Treaty of Adrianople and Economic Shift

The year 1829 marked a turning point for Brăila and for the Filotti family’s grain enterprise. In that year, the Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne) was signed between the Russian and Ottoman Empires, ending the Russo-Turkish War. One of the treaty’s outcomes was the return of Brăila (and other Danube ports) to Wallachia’s administration after nearly three centuries of Ottoman rule. Brăila was also declared a free port, opening its trade to international commerce.

For the Filottis, the consequences were twofold. Politically, Brăila was now part of the autonomous Principality of Wallachia (under Ottoman suzerainty but with greater internal freedom). Economically, the Ottoman Army’s logistical arrangements changed drastically. With the Ottoman border receding and no direct Ottoman garrison in Brăila, the longstanding demand for local grain suppliers to the Turkish army evaporated. The Filotti family’s role as zaheregii to the Ottomans thus effectively came to an end.

After over two centuries of continuity, the family had to reinvent its economic base. Surviving family records and later accounts note that the Filottis “had to look for other sources of income” once their military contracts lapsed. This transitional period (the 1830s) coincided with the rise of the modern Romanian state and new opportunities in commerce, landownership, and public service. It is in this context that a pivotal figure in the family’s history emerged: Nestor Filotti, who would shift the family from commerce to landownership.

Nestor Filotti and the Batogu Estate (19th Century)

Nestor Filotti (born ca. 1814) is widely regarded as the patriarch of the modern Filotti family. He was a great-grandson of the earlier Ion Filotti (the grain merchant) and came of age just as the old trade was winding down. Initially, Nestor entered the civil service: as a young man he qualified as a clerk in Brăila’s administration, benefiting from the administrative reforms of the Organic Regulations in Wallachia. In 1843, he married Sofia Dulgheru, the daughter of Sava Dulgheru, a member of the Brăila city council. This marriage allied him with a prominent local family and signaled the Filottis’ growing integration into Romanian civic life.

Around the same time, Nestor embarked on a new venture – agricultural estate management. With the family’s mercantile income, he began leasing estates from the Eforia Spitalelor Civile (a charitable trust that managed lands to fund hospitals). His most significant move was securing the lease of Batogu, a large estate in Brăila County. Over the years Nestor’s arrangement at Batogu evolved from tenant to owner: he eventually purchased the Batogu estate outright and built a manor house there. This estate, acquired in the mid-19th century, became the new seat of the Filotti family’s wealth and social status, effectively replacing the old grain business with landownership.

Nestor Filotti proved to be an enterprising and forward-looking landlord. He introduced modern agricultural techniques at Batogu, being among the first in the region to use steam-powered farm machinery. For example, Nestor imported portable steam engines from England for threshing grain – a cutting-edge innovation at the time. Such improvements greatly increased productivity and demonstrated the family’s adaptability to new economic realities.

By the 1860s, Nestor had risen in local prominence. He even served in Brăila’s municipal government – records show he held the post of “Executor of the Chairman of the Brăila City Council” (Îndeplinitor de Prezident al Municipiului Brăila) during his career. Under his stewardship, the Filotti family transitioned fully into the ranks of the landed gentry of Romania’s Danubian Plain.

Nestor Filotti died at Batogu in 1867 (some sources list 1869, but contemporary family documents indicate 1867). He left behind a large family and a lasting legacy. His widow Sofia and their children – eleven of whom were still alive at his passing – inherited a prosperous estate and considerable influence. Sofia Dulgheru Filotti managed to keep Batogu intact for the next decades, with their eldest son Anastase Filotti taking over day-to-day administration of the manor. From this point on, Batogu would remain the focal point of Filotti family life for almost eight decades, until the upheavals of World War II and the communist takeover.

In summary, Nestor’s era represents a golden age for the Filotti family in the 19th century: they had successfully reinvented themselves as major landowners and modern farmers. The family’s status was further cemented by advantageous marriages and the education of Nestor’s children, who would go on to distinguish themselves in various fields.

Genealogy and Branches of the Filotti Family

Nestor Filotti’s descendants proliferated and branched out across Romania by the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Nestor and Sofia had twelve children (six sons and six daughters), forming the core of the modern Filotti family tree. Among these children were:

• Constantin Filotti (1849–1911) – Nestor’s son who remained closely tied to the Batogu estate. Constantin married (wife’s name recorded as Sofia) and was the father of Maria Filotti, the future actress.
• Nicolae Filotti (1860–1897) – Another of Nestor’s sons, he became a military pharmacist. Nicolae married Aurelia Felix (daughter of physician Iacob Felix) and had two sons, Mircea and Eugen. He died young of tuberculosis, but his widow Aurelia raised their sons, one of whom was Eugen Filotti (the diplomat).
• Anastase Filotti (1854–1936) – The eldest son, who took charge of Batogu after Nestor’s death. Anastase was a modern agriculturist like his father; he and his descendants formed one branch of the family (some of whom later settled in the nearby city of Buzău).
• Traian Filotti (1865–1909) – The youngest son of Nestor, he lived in the late 19th-century boom of Romania. One of Traian’s children, Ioan “Ion” Filotti (1900–1974), became a noted engineer and married into the Dumitrescu family, while another branch through Traian’s line eventually settled abroad (some descendants bearing surnames like Brăescu and marrying into families in Western Europe, reflecting later diaspora).
• Other Filotti daughters and sons married into various Romanian families (Calu, Orășanu, Hagi-Volcoff, etc.), creating a wide kin network. For instance, Nestor’s daughter Tudorița Filotti (1842–1890) married twice (Petrache Calu and then Alexandru Constantinescu), linking the Filottis with those families.

By the turn of the 20th century, the Filotti family could be considered part of Romania’s educated elite. They had branches in Brăila (still centered on Batogu and local business), in Bucharest (where some moved for careers in the military, government or culture), and even in Ploiești (another branch mentioned in records). This period also saw the family connecting with nobility: notably, through Maria Filotti’s marriage into the princely Cantacuzino family, as detailed below.

Notable Family Members in the 20th Century (Politics, Arts, Science)

As the 20th century progressed, several Filotti descendants rose to prominence in various fields:

• Maria Filotti (1883–1956) – Perhaps the most famous bearer of the name, Maria was the granddaughter of Nestor (daughter of Constantin Filotti). Born at Batogu in 1883, she pursued an education in Bucharest and Iași and became a renowned actress of the Romanian stage. Over a four-decade career, Maria Filotti earned acclaim as a leading lady of the National Theatre and also served as a theater director. Contemporary critiques described her as one of the “prestigious actors of the great realistic school” in Romania. Her legacy is cemented in Brăila, where the municipal theater proudly bears her name (the “Maria Filotti” Theatre). Through her 1910 marriage to Prince Ioan (Ion) Cantacuzino (of the historic Cantacuzino family), Maria linked the Filottis to Romanian aristocracy. They had a son, Ion Șerban Filotti Cantacuzino (1908–1975), who became a noted film producer, writer, and psychiatrist. Ion Filotti Cantacuzino contributed to Romanian cinema in the interwar period and wrote one of the earliest books on film theory in Romanian. Maria’s grandson (Ion’s son), Șerban Cantacuzino, would also become a well-known Romanian film and theater actor, continuing the family’s artistic tradition.
• Eugen Filotti (1896–1975) – A prominent figure in politics and diplomacy, Eugen was a great-grandson of Nestor (son of Nicolae Filotti and Aurelia Felix). Born in Bucharest in 1896, he was educated in law and launched a career as a journalist, then diplomat and statesman. Eugen Filotti served in the Romanian foreign service in the 1930s and 1940s, holding posts as Envoy (Minister Plenipotentiary) to countries like Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Hungary. Notably, during World War II, while serving as Envoy to Budapest, he issued transit visas that allowed numerous Jewish refugees to escape the Holocaust, an act of courage for which he is remembered. After the war, in 1944–45, he briefly served as Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry. Eugen was also a man of letters, publishing translations and articles, and remained active in intellectual circles even under the communist regime. His contributions straddle both political diplomacy and literature (through his writings and translations).
• Ion Filotti Cantacuzino (1908–1975) – Mentioned above as Maria Filotti’s son, Ion inherited his mother’s artistic inclination and his father’s noble lineage. Using the combined surname Filotti Cantacuzino, he carved out a multifaceted career: after studying medicine and philosophy in Paris, he became known as a writer and film critic/producer in the 1930s–1940s. Ion Filotti Cantacuzino was a pioneer of Romanian cinema, producing documentaries and writing screenplays. He was also a psychiatrist by training, though he gained fame chiefly through cultural endeavors. In the postwar years, he continued to write and was an important chronicler of Romanian film history. His two sons, Gheorghe I. Cantacuzino (a historian) and Șerban Cantacuzino (actor), carried on the family’s presence in academia and the arts.
• Other Family Members: Several other Filotti descendants made their mark. For example, Mircea Filotti (1892–1973), Eugen’s elder brother, was an engineer and professor. Ligia Filotti (b. c.1930s) became a respected literary translator. Additionally, through the many marriages of Filotti daughters, the extended family is related to numerous Romanian figures – e.g., the Cantacuzino princes (as noted), the Carp family (through Ruxandra Dudescu née Filotti, who married into the Carp family, connecting to Petre P. Carp’s lineage), and others like the Orășanu and Dudiescu families. These connections placed the Filottis in a broad elite kinship network by the mid-20th century.

Despite the successes, the 20th century also brought hardship. In the late 1940s, as Romania’s communist regime took hold, the Filotti family lost much of its remaining property. The cherished Batogu estate was expropriated in 1947 by the communist agrarian reforms. The manor house, which had been the family seat for nearly a century, was seized by the state, ending the Filottis’ role as landowners. Some family members faced persecution or marginalization due to their “bourgeois” or noble background in the communist period. For instance, Eugen Filotti, though respected for his pre-war service, lived under the watch of the new authorities (he continued scholarly work but was no longer in diplomacy after 1945).

Global Dispersion and Legacy

Following World War II and the communist takeover, the Filotti family experienced a global dispersion. While many members remained in Romania (adapting to new careers in the socialist era), others went into exile or moved abroad in later decades. After 1947, with their estate gone and an unfriendly regime at home, some younger Filottis sought opportunities overseas. In the second half of the 20th century, branches of the family settled in Western Europe and North America. For example, Eugen Filotti’s son Ion Ștefan Filotti (b. 1941) left Romania and lived in France and the United States, and his children now bear surnames like Wilkinson in the diaspora (as revealed by family genealogical records). Similarly, parts of the family that married into the Brăescu clan found themselves in Italy and Germany in subsequent generations (descendants with names such as Fabio Nicoletti or Xiomara de Abrieu reflect these international marriages).

Despite scattering across continents, the extended family kept alive a sense of identity and pride in their heritage. Private family tree research (notably by Andrei Filotti, a grandson of Eugen) has documented the Filotti genealogy and preserved anecdotes and archives. Romanian historians have also taken interest in the family: for instance, genealogist Mihai Sorin Rădulescu included the Filotti lineage in his survey of Romanian genealogies, and local archives in Brăila (Muzeul Brăilei “Istros”) have published works touching on the family’s history. In Greek sources, the memory of Ion Filotis is more obscure, but the shared heritage is occasionally noted in works about the Greek diaspora in the Danubian Principalities.

Today, the Filotti name survives in Romania through descendants and in public institutions named in honor of illustrious members. The Maria Filotti Theatre in Brăila stands as a cultural landmark, keeping Maria’s memory alive in her hometown. Archival documents such as estate papers, correspondence, and photographs of the family are preserved in Romanian archives and family collections, offering a window into centuries of history. The family’s journey – from a Greek island to Moldavia, through Ottoman courts, into Romanian boyar class, and then into the modern professions of the 20th century – illustrates the adaptability and resilience of a lineage across changing historical eras.

In the words of a Romanian chronicler:

“The Filotti family, of Greek origin, became in time an integral part of Romanian society, lending the country grain merchants, landowners, public servants, diplomats, and artists of distinction.”

The legacy of this family remains alive in historical memory and through the accomplishments of its notable members across four centuries.

Timeline of Major Family Milestones and Members

• 1619 – Ion Filotti (Ίων Φιλώτης) arrives from Naxos to Moldavia in Prince Gaspar Graziani’s suite.
• 1620 – Graziani is assassinated; Ion Filotti escapes and settles in Brăila with his son Ștefan, beginning a grain trading business supplying the Ottoman army.
• 17th–18th c. – The Filottis continue as prominent grain merchants (zaheregii) in Brăila for over 200 years, provisioning Ottoman forces. The Greek branch on Naxos persists for a time but eventually dies out.
• 1829 – The Treaty of Adrianople restores Brăila to Wallachia, ending the need for local Ottoman army suppliers. The Filotti grain trade falters, forcing the family to seek new economic avenues.
• ca. 1830–1840 – Ion Filotti (c.1780–1835) – last of the merchant forebears – dies. His son Nestor Filotti (b. 1814) enters civil service in Brăila. In 1843, Nestor marries Sofia Dulgheru, aligning the family with local civic elites.
• 1850s – Nestor leases and then acquires the Batogu estate, constructing a manor that becomes the family’s country seat. He introduces steam-powered farming equipment at Batogu, a pioneering move in Romanian agriculture.
• 1867 – Nestor Filotti dies at Batogu. His widow Sofia and their 11 surviving children (out of 12) inherit the estate, with son Anastase Filotti managing it. The Filotti family is now firmly part of the landowning class.
• 1883 – Maria Filotti is born on 9 Oct 1883 in Batogu to Constantin Filotti (Nestor’s son). She will become a leading Romanian actress, starring in Iași and Bucharest and later directing theater.
• 1896 – Eugen Filotti is born on 28 July 1896 in Bucharest to Nicolae Filotti (Nestor’s son). He will become a diplomat, journalist, and writer, serving as Romanian envoy to multiple countries and aiding Jewish refugees during WWII.
• 1908 – Ion Șerban Filotti Cantacuzino is born in Bucharest, son of Maria Filotti and Prince Ioan Cantacuzino. He will gain renown as a film producer and writer in the 1930s–1940s.
• 1930s – Filotti descendants are active in high society: Maria Filotti is a star of the National Theatre, Eugen Filotti serves as Press Director (1930) and later Envoy to Athens, Ankara, and Budapest. The family is well-known in cultural and political circles of the Kingdom of Romania.
• 1947 – The communist regime expropriates the Batogu estate, ending the Filottis’ historical tenure as landowners. The family scatters: some remain in Romania under the new regime, while others prepare to depart.
• 1956 – Maria Filotti passes away in November 1956. By now she is revered as a grande dame of Romanian theatre. (A theatre in Brăila was named in her honor shortly thereafter.)
• 1975 – Eugen Filotti dies in Bucharest on June 1, 1975. His memoirs and translations leave a literary legacy, and his humanitarian actions during WWII are later recognized. That same year, Ion F. Cantacuzino also dies (August 1975), closing the chapter on the generation that straddled pre- and post-war Romania.
• Late 20th c. – Under Ceaușescu’s regime and after the 1989 Revolution, the family’s younger generations increasingly emigrate or establish ties abroad. Filotti descendants settle in countries like France, the US, Canada, and Germany, while some remain in Romania. Family reunions and research in the 2000s reconnect these branches, and efforts are made to document the Filotti heritage in both Romanian and Greek contexts.

Sources

Historical and genealogical data have been drawn from family chronicles and scholarly works, including the Brăila Museum’s publications, Familypedia genealogical entries, Romanian archival research by M. S. Rădulescu, and biographical records of individual family members. These sources document the Filotti family’s enduring presence from 1619 to the present day.