Doria

The Doria, first recorded as the de Auria, with two members named in 1110, were one of Genoa's oldest and richest noble houses, possibly descended from the Arduinici counts of Auriate in Piedmont. From Riviera fiefs and large Sardinian estates they rose to command the republic, first as captains of the people and later as doges.

Oberto Doria led Genoa to a decisive naval victory over Pisa at La Meloria in 1284, and his brother Lamba Doria crushed the Venetian fleet at Curzola in 1298. Brancaleone Doria ruled the Sardinian Giudicato of Arborea and came close to conquering the whole island, while Ottone Doria died leading the Genoese crossbowmen at Crecy in 1346.

The family's peak came with Andrea Doria, born in 1466, admiral of Charles V, who refounded the Genoese republic in 1528 and became Prince of Melfi in 1531. After his death in 1560 his adopted heir's line kept the titles, and later Doria sat as doges of Genoa into the seventeenth century.