ORDELAFFI, FAMILY. - It held the lordship of Forlì and other Romagna lands for two centuries.

The lordship was already taking shape when SCARPETTA, son of Tebaldo, was captain of the people in 1307. Shortly afterward, Robert of Anjou was able to seize the O., but this did not prevent CECCO (1315-31), Scarpetta's brother, from reoccupying Forlì.

The strongest personality of the house was FRANCESCO, who from 1333 onward ruled Forlì, Forlimpopoli and Cesena. When Albornoz began his work he was forced to proclaim a kind of crusade against him, who, despite the sacking of Cesena (1357), surrendered only in 1359. The vicariate for Forlimpopoli and Castrocaro was recognized for him, but, not content, he tried in vain to reconquer his entire domain with Visconti help: having withdrawn to Venice, he died there in 1374, leaving four sons.

Of these, SINIBALDO, aided by Florence, defeated the papal troops and entered Forlì in 1376, of which the vicariate was granted to him by Urban VI in 1379. Shortly afterward his nephews CECCO and PINO imprisoned him and held the government firmly until 1405. After a series of upheavals, from 1411 onward the O. had to alternate their own government with that of the papacy, until, in 1443, Piccinino reconquered Forlì for ANTONIO, Cecco's bastard son. Among the many successors, PINO III (d. 1480) protected artists and men of letters; the lordship died out with Sinibaldo II, since the State was assigned to Girolamo Riario by Sixtus IV. The last O. died at Ravenna in 1504.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: L. Passerini, O. di Forlì (1862), in P. Litta, Famiglie celebri italiane; C. Grigioni, Pino III O., in La Romagna, 7 (1910), pp. 118-23; R. C. Storti, Cia degli O., in La cultura moderna, 49 (1940), pp. 453-59.

Luciano Gulli

@incollection{ec9_ordelaffi_famiglia, author = {Gulli, Luciano}, title = {Ordelaffi, famiglia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {IX}, pages = {216--217}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/ordelaffi-famiglia} }

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Ordelaffi, Family

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