de' Rossi

The de' Rossi were nobles of the Parma Apennines, first documented in 1323, whose rise rested on church and signoria. Ugolino Rossi became bishop of Parma in 1324 and built estates around Berceto; John of Bohemia named his brothers counts there in 1331.

His brother Rolando de' Rossi, born around 1285, ruled Parma as signore from 1328; after submitting it to the Bohemian king in 1331 he joined the future Charles IV on missions, but in 1335 Parma surrendered to the Scaligers and the Rossi were exiled. Rolando ended as a condottiero for Venice and Florence, dying at Padua in 1345.

From 1346, under Visconti rule, the family rebuilt from castles and from 1376 feuded for over a century with the Pallavicini. Its glory came with Pier Maria II de' Rossi, the Magnificent, who defeated the Venetians at Casalmaggiore in 1448 and built Torrechiara for his mistress Bianca Pellegrini. A Milanese league stormed his lands in 1482; he died at Torrechiara, the family's ascendancy broken.