The Tasso Family and the postal history

The Tasso family comes from the small medieval hamlet of Cornello and is known around the world for the poet Torquato Tasso and the entrepreneurial skills of some of its members, who ran the imperial Habsburg posts starting from the 16th century. The Tasso family soon became mail carriers within the Society of Couriers of the Venetian Republic, working for the papal court as well as the Habsburg emperors Maximilian I and Charles V. Between the 15th and 16th century the Tasso family modernised the postal service along the subalpine regions of Italy by establishing post stations and relay systems along fixed routes, with a considerable reduction in the mail delivery time.