The Gherardini family of Montagliari (or Florence) was one of the most prominent historical Italian noble families from Tuscany, Italy. Through the Amideis, the family was of Roman descent. Between the 9th and 14th centuries, they played an important role in Tuscany. Its influence was also felt in the Veneto and Emilia regions between the 16th and 18th centuries, and during the Italian Risorgimento as well as in today's Italian politics and economy.Titles: Lords of Montagliari in Tuscany, Patrician of Venice, Marquises of San Polo d'Enza, Marquises of Castelnuovo de' Gherardini, Marquises of Bazzano, Scurano and Pianzo, Patricians of Reggio in the Emilia region. From the Register of Italian Nobility during the Kingdom of Italy edited by the Ministry of the Interior, 1930 The family's restless and fighting nature has aroused the curiosity of many historians of the Middle Ages. Originating from feudal tradition, it was one of the founding families of the Republic of Florence.See the most recent studies carried out by Enrico Faini (University of Firenze): Enrico Faini, "Uomini e famiglie nella Firenze consolare", Firenze 2009, p. 23
The family took part in Florence's political life between 1100 and 1300. In 1300, they were exiled from the city when Florence began its transformation into a Signoria, later ruled by the Medici family. In his Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri, who was exiled with the Gherardinis, placed the family in Paradise's V Sphere. Following its exile from Tuscany, the family joined the Great Council of Venice (Venice's Chamber of Peers), becoming Patricians of that city, and members of the Venetian nobility.Participation in the Great Council was established on hereditary right, exclusive to the patrician families enrolled in the Golden Book of the Venetian nobility Until 1800, they kept some fiefs between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna.
The oldest knightly tomb in Tuscany (in the Church of Sant'Appiano, near Barberino Val d'Elsa) belongs to this family.Bernini, Nicola La lastra tombale di Gherarduccio dei Gherardini nella Pieve di Sant'Appiano, Commentari d'arte : rivista di critica e storia dell'arte : 42/43, 1/2, 2009, - De Luca Editori d'Arte, p. 45-53 Historically influential in Florence, the Gherardinis were also featured in Florentine Histories, a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli at the request of his Medici patron. In modern times, their name is affiliated with the Mona Lisa of Leonardo da Vinci, as the painting depicts the portrait of Lisa Gherardini. Arms of this family is a quarterly Barry of six vair and gules and imperial eagles. Today's best known descendant lives in New York City and is an artist, Chiara Ajkun.
The Gherardinis also married into other Renaissance families across the centuries such as the Medicis, Strozzis, Bardis, Albizzis, Altovitis, Frescobaldis, Albertis, Balestrieris, and Ricasolis.Mona Lisa descendant just grins and bears it
Origins
According to the most recent university research, in 856 the family founded the Church of San Piero a Ema (with Gaifredo) and "nepotes Ceci" as a sobriquet.In tal senso, si vedano gli studi di Enrico Faini: "I Gherardini e gli Amidei sono, per la prima metà del XII secolo, due rari esempi del coinvolgimento nell'alta società cittadina di stirpi dotate di una certa concentrazione di possessi campagnoli. Con ogni probabilità le due famiglie derivarono da un unico gruppo parentale denominato nei primi decenni del secolo XII «nepotes Ceci»". Enrico Faini, Uomini e famiglie nella Firenze consolare, Firenze 2009, p. 23 The family is described in documents dating back to that period and kept in the San Miniato al Monte church in Florence. They were feudatories in the Chianti and the Val d'Elsa areas and settled in Florence in 1100 following the death of Matilda of Tuscany. They founded the Republic of Florence and had a number of Consuls in the Republic ("Consul Civitatis": heads of government).
Two centuries later, they took part in the fights between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines and subsequently between the White and Black Guelphs; they were with the "White" faction and were opposed to the transformations which led to the birth of the Signoria. Some of the leading figures of the family during that period include: Gherarduccio Gherardini (whose tombstone in the Church of Sant'Appiano is the oldest knightly tomb in Tuscany), Noldo Gherardini, Cece Gherardini, Vanne and Bernardino Gherardini, Lotteringo Gherardini, Cione Gherardini known as "il Pelliccia" and Andrea Gherardini "lo Scacciaguelfi" (the Shoo Away the Guelphs).According to a study carried out by Enrico Faini of the University of Florence, prof. Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur and prof. Andrea Zorzi ("Il gruppo dirigente fiorentino nell'età consolare" n "Archivio Storico", CLXII (2004), p. 210), there were about ten old aristocratic families who moved to Florence from 1000 and 1100: Amidei; Ardinghi; Brunelleschi; Buondelmonti; Caponsacchi; Donati; Fifanti; Gherardini; Guidi; Nerli; Porcelli; Scolari; Uberti; Visdomini. This era of war between the factions supporting the Pope and the ones supporting the Holy Roman Emperor was later immortalized in Florentine Histories, a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli and commissioned by Cardinal Giulio de' Medici, later known as Pope Clement VII, of the House of Medici, in which the Gherardinis are featured on many occasions.
More recent university studies have confirmed both the central role played by this family in Florence's medieval history and its members' reputation as inflexible as shown by the statistics on penalties and sentences which afflicted some families in that period. According to Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, a French historian, the Gherardinis from Montagliari were "instigators of disorders", "with little desire to participate in public life". They were also a "bellicose and rude" family. This deeply independent character must have been at the basis of the family's decision not to abide by the new rules of the rising Commune of Florence such as the Ordinances of Justice of 1296 which aimed at forcing aristocracy to give up their names of origin and privileges. Unless they did so, there were very high taxes and penalties for them. Their opposition explains the passion with which Florence fought them, destroying, where possible, their assets.Christiane Klapisch-Zuber (Directrice d'Études all'École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales) "Ritorno alla politica. I magnati fiorentini 1340–1440", Edizioni Viella, 2009. pp. 206, 236, 238.
Civil War and exile
Following many years of civil war, the Gherardinis were exiled in 1302 because they were accused of having forged an alliance with the neighbouring city of Siena. According to historians (and contemporaries of the time), the accusation was based on false documents and invented by Cante Gabrielli, the Podestà, to stamp out this family and its allies once and for all.Dino Compagni, "Cronica delle cose occorrenti ne' tempi suoi" . Following this accusation, Florence attacked the Gherardinis. The land they owned or controlled went from the first sighting centres near the southern walls of Florence, and from Marignolle up to Impruneta. It then went on up to the main fortresses of Montagliari and Montaguto near the current Greve in Chianti. To the west, their land went all the way up to the fortress of Linari near Barberino Val d'Elsa.
In the summer of 1302, following a siege, both Montagliari and Montaguto were burned to the ground. The Republic of Florence then decreed that it was no longer possible to build on this area. This edict was breached by the Gherardinis in 1632 when they built a chapel."I Gherardini ed il Castello di Montagliari", Giuseppe Corazzini, Ed. Landi, Firenze 1897 The western part of the Gherardini's land and properties withstood the attack by the Florentines because Andrea Gherardini was ruling the nearby city of Pistoia and the Gherardinis enjoyed greater strength in Valdelsa (a valley south of Florence). A few years later, Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor tried to remove this family from Valdelsa but did not succeed because the Castle of Linari, led by Vanne Gherardini, withstood the summer siege of 1313. Following the death of Gherarduccio Gherardini in 1331 (buried in the Church of Sant'Appiano, near Linari), the family lost its last great commander and the last remaining properties were gradually lost too."Storia di Poggibonsi" by Francesco Pratelli – Lalli Editore. Poggibonsi, 1990.
After the fall of Montagliari, and the subsequent loss of their land and properties in Val d'Elsa, the last Gherardinis (except a small group) went into exile to Verona that, at that time, was under the Empire. Dante Alighieri went into exile with them too. At the same time, the Florentines finished to destroy the Gherardinis' buildings in the city as well as other evidence of their life there. This was their third exodus. The previous expulsion of the Ghibellinis, half a century earlier, meant that some Gherardinis moved near Verona and Rovigo (they came together again later on). The first exodus took place around 1120 with the death of Matilda of Tuscany. One of the heads of the family, Gherardino, and his children (Tommaso, Gherardo and Maurizio) decided to leave Tuscany. Initially they were members of the retinue of Louis VII of France, called the Young, and then they were with Henry II of England and went to conquer Ireland, where they started the FitzGerald dynasty.Fitzgibbon, A. "Appendix to the Unpublished Geraldine Documents: The Gherardini of Tuscany", The Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland, Fourth Series, Vol. 4, No. 29, 1877 This topic is still being studied by some historians."I Gherardini ed il Castello di Montagliari" di Corazzini; "Unpublished Gherardini documents" Samuel Hayman; "Vignamaggio e Montagliari dal XIV ad oggi" AA.VV; Mini in "Discorso sopra la nobiltà di Firenze"
The current branch In 1633 thanks to Gaspare and Angelo, the main branch, that had settled in Verona between 1300 and 1400, added some properties in the Emilia region to the fiefs they had received when they had arrived (Montorio, Bardolino, Sorgate and Montecchiana). From the House of Este and the House of Gonzaga, they bought the Marquisate of Scurano, Bazzano and Pianzo, that of San Polo d'Enza, and in 1652 the Marquisate of Castelnovo di Sotto. On 19 November 1652, during the War of Candia, Bernardino, younger brother of Gaspare and Angelo, welcomed the Gherardinis among the Venetian noble families of the Great Council of the Republic of Venice, about the same time as did the Medici.
The two branches came together again in 1811.For further information on the Gherardini's rule of these fiefs, see: Iotti, “San Polo d'Enza, Feudatari e Comunità, 1988, edito dal Comune di San Polo. With the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Republic of Venice and Venice were occupied by the French and given to Austria, which would change the future of the Gherardinis. While their fiefs were occupied and absorbed by the Napoleonic kingdoms in 1805, the Gherardinis, after ten centuries of being Lords in Europe, lost their independence, which led them to reconsider their relations with the House of Habsburg and Austria. This is why they started to support the new cause of Risorgimento – the unity of Italy – and subsequently, following the unity, they took part in Italian political life and often served in the armed forces. A notable member was General Gian Claudio Gherardini.
Other branches