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Thi surname is typical of Northern Italy, especially Emilia-Romagna region (Bologna region), Lombardy (Milan region), Veneto (Venice region). It comes mostly from name of places: Like for instance "Zerbo".
In Venice area this surname or the original variant "Zerbi" coul d come from a dialect word "zerbo" that means "not ripe" or "green".
In Sicily the surname "Zerbi" could come from a dialect greek word "zerbos" that means left-handed.

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I ignore if this surname could be of slavic origin.

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Variants of Zerbi:
Zerbo, Zerbio, De Zerbi, Del Zerbo, Zerbetto, Zerbetti, Zerbini,
Zerboni, Zerbone, Zerbino, Zerbin (venetian form), Zerbinato (venetian form), Zerbinati and so on.

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See Emidio De Felice /Dizionario dei Cognomi Italiani (Dictionary o italian surnames)

My guess is that it's a version of Serbian ...with the -ini an Italian diminutive ...

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Here's something I found where there's a use of a word close to Serbian ...

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Sometimes with the sponsorship of Byzantium, and sometimes opposing it, the veliki zupan (a title equivalent to the rank of prince) Stefan Nemanja expanded his state seizing territories east and south, and newly annexed the littoral and the Zeta region. Along with his governmental efforts, the veliki zupan dedicated much care to the construction of monasteries. His endowments include the Djurdjevi Stupovi Monastery and the Studenica Monastery in the Raska region, and the Hilandar Monastery on Mt. Athos.

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Also ...and probaby more relevant ...

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Serbia

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Serbia probably takes its name from a Slavic word for "ally/friend". The name of the Sorbs in present-day Germany has the same origin, the Serbs having migrated into the Balkan area from the region in Germany known as Lusatia, where the Sorbs currently live.

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