Adorno

The Adorno were a patrician house of Genoa, first documented in 1186; trade along the Ligurian Riviera gave them their wealth. After the Boccanegra they led the Ghibelline popular faction and, with their rivals the Fregoso, dominated the age of the popular doges from 1339 to 1527.

Gabriele Adorno became the first doge of the house in 1363. His rule saw commercial treaties with Cyprus, Aragon and Portugal and stronger Genoese bases in the Crimea before a tax revolt drove him out in 1370. His kinsman Antoniotto I held the dogate four times between 1378 and 1396, and other Adorno doges followed.

The last was Antoniotto II, doge from 1522 to 1527. When Andrea Doria reformed the Genoese constitution in 1528, the Adorno and Fregoso were shut out of power and absorbed into the Pinelli albergo, ending their rivalry over the republic.