ORDALFI FAMILY. - Held lordship over Forlì and other Romagnol lands for two centuries.
The lordship was already taking shape when SCARPETTA, son of Tebaldo, became captain of the people in 1307. Soon after, Robert of Anjou was able to seize the Ordalfi, but this did not prevent Cecco (1315–31), Scarpetta’s brother, from retaking Forlì.
The strongest figure in the house was FRANCESCO, who from 1333 onward ruled Forlì, Forlimpopoli, and Cesena. When Albornoz began his work, he was forced to mount a kind of crusade against Francesco, who, despite the fall of Cesena (1357), surrendered only in 1359. He was granted the vicariate for Forlimpopoli and Castrocaro, but, unsatisfied, he vainly attempted to reclaim his full dominion with Visconti aid; he retired to Venice, where in 1374 he died, leaving four sons.
Of these, SINIBALDO, aided by Florence, defeated papal forces and entered Forlì in 1376, obtaining the vicariate from Urban VI in 1379. Soon afterward, his nephews Cecco and Pino imprisoned him and firmly held power until 1405. After a series of disturbances, from 1411 onward the Ordalfi alternated rule with the papacy until, in 1443, Piccinino restored Forlì to ANTONIO, Cecco’s illegitimate son. Among many successors, Pino III (d. 1480) protected artists and men of letters; the lordship expired with Sinibaldo II, since the state was assigned by Sixtus IV to Girolamo Riario. The last Ordalfi died in Ravenna in 1504.