Marco Grimaldi

Marco Grimaldi was a Genoese nobleman, son of the Guelph admiral Antonio Grimaldi and Argentina Malaspina. Driven out of Genoa by the feuds of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, Marco and his brother Luca rebuilt the family on the Provençal coast, taking Cagnes in 1371, Menton in 1382 and Antibes in 1384, where they founded the Grimaldi branch of Antibes.

The line outlasted the Genoese quarrels by centuries. Lambert of the branch became lord of Monaco by marriage in 1465, and Henry IV bought Antibes from the family in 1608.