View Message

You can find the origin of this last name on http://www.ancestry.fr/facts/Piccioni-family-history.ashx.
Personally, I would add that the word 'piccione' does really mean 'pigeon' in italian, but in this sense Piccione was most likely an Italian personal name (back in the day of course) rather than a nickname or an occupational name - in the same way Colombo (meaning 'dove') was a very common personal name in Italy centuries ago.
Out of curiosity, such names were pretty common in the old days, not only in Italy actually: a lot of them were inspired by animal names and by the symbology concerning them, for example Leone ("lion"), Lupo ("wolf"), Orso ("bear"), Tortora ("turtle dove"), Falcone ("falcon"), Agnello ("lamb"), etc.