Gherardini family

The Gherardini 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. 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. 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 Medicis. 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. 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. Historically influential in Florence, the Gheradinis were also featured in Florentine Histories, a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli at the request of the Medicis. 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. The Gheradinis also married into other Renaissance families across the centuries such as the Medicis, Strozzis, Bardis, Albizzis, Altovitis, Frescobaldis, Albertis, Balestrieris, and Ricasolis. 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.