Bocchino Belforti

Bocchino Belforti (Paolo Belforti, called Bocchino), eldest son of Ottaviano, became co-lord of Volterra in 1348 and soon ruled alone. He had fought beside his father at the 1340 siege of Berignone and shared his excommunication, and the chronicler Matteo Villani called his harsh rule tyranny.

Volterra lay between Guelph Florence and Ghibelline Pisa, and Bocchino balanced the two: he married Bandecca de' Rossi of a leading Florentine family, allied with Pisa's anti-Florentine faction, and in May 1349 repulsed a surprise Pisan night assault.

In 1361 a feud with the sons of his cousin Francesco over Monteveltraio fortress brought Florentine soldiers against him. Judging Florence the stronger, he secretly agreed to sell the signory to Pisa for thirty-two thousand gold florins; the citizens rose and seized him on 5 September, and he was beheaded in the Piazza dei Priori on 10 October 1361.