della Scala family

della Scala family, noted family that ruled Verona during the late 13th and the 14th centuries. Although the family had been prominent in Verona since the 11th century, the founder of the ruling dynasty was Mastino I della Scala (d. 1277), who became podesta (chief magistrate) shortly after the defeat and death (1259) of Ezzelino da Romano, tyrant of Verona. A new election in 1262 gave Mastino the added authoritative office of captain of the people. He was succeeded in 1277 by his brother Alberto (d. 1301), who was followed by his son Bartolomeo (d. 1304), the “gran Lombardo” (Dante, Paradiso), in whose reign (according to tradition) Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet loved and died.

Bartolomeo’s brother Can Francesco, called Cangrande I (d. 1329), was the greatest figure of the family and protector of the exiled Dante. He first ruled Verona jointly with his brother Alboino, and together they gained the title of imperial vicar from the Holy Roman emperor Henry VII (1311). After Alboino’s death (Oct. 28, 1311), Cangrande became the sole ruler and began a series of successful wars against Vicenza (1312–14) and Padua (1317–18). In 1318 he became captain general of the Ghibelline League and extended his control over Fetre and Belluno. In 1327 he was named imperial vicar of Mantua, reaching the apex of his power. His successor and nephew, Mastino II (who ruled with his brother Alberto II), tried to continue the expansionist policies of his uncle. His aggressiveness, however, provoked a rival Florentine-Venetian coalition and the loss of allies and territories, and by the end of his reign he was left with only Verona and Vicenza.

The della Scala rule in Verona finally came to a close after the brief successive reigns of Mastino’s sons and grandsons, ending in 1387 with the annexation of the city by the Visconti, under Gian Galeazzo Visconti, duke of Milan.