Boccanegra

The Boccanegra were a leading noble family of Genoa, champions of the Ghibelline and popular party against the old mercantile patriciate. Guglielmo Boccanegra became captain of the people and virtual ruler in 1257, and in 1260 commissioned the Palazzo San Giorgio, the future seat of Genoese government.

His nephew Simone was elected the republic's first doge for life in 1339. He excluded the aristocracy from office, but conspiracies forced him to resign in 1345. After Genoa submitted to Giovanni Visconti of Milan in 1353, an anti-Visconti rising in 1356 brought Simone to rally commoners at San Siro and be restored as doge.

He died after a banquet in 1363, widely believed poisoned. Other kinsmen made careers at sea: Egidio served Castile as admiral and won off Algeciras in 1344, while his son Ambrosio commanded the Castilian fleet at La Rochelle in 1372.