Taddeo Pepoli

Taddeo Pepoli (1285/1290–1347), son of the Bolognese banker Romeo, was a jurist who became the first open signore of Bologna. His lavish degree celebrations of 1320 aroused suspicion, and the family was driven out in 1321. He returned in 1328, and in 1334 helped drive the legate out.

After crushing the rival Gozzadini, he had his men occupy the main square without bloodshed on 28 August 1337, and the People's Council named him perpetual conservator and governor. Pope Benedict XII excommunicated him and laid Bologna under interdict in 1338, until a 1340 settlement made him papal vicar.

His rule gave Bologna a rare decade of peace at the cost of the commune's independence. He died on 29 September 1347, leaving power to his sons Giacomo and Giovanni.