Visconti di Gallura

The Visconti di Gallura were a Pisan noble branch, separate from the Visconti of Milan, who rose in the service of the commune of Pisa. Alberto held the title of patrician, and his son Eldizio was consul in 1184 and 1185; Eldizio's sons Lamberto and Ubaldo each served a term as podesta. In 1207 Lamberto married Elena, heiress of Barisone II of Gallura, and so made himself ruler of the northeastern corner of Sardinia, with his capital at Civita in the Giudicato of Gallura; in 1215 the brothers also imposed their hegemony on the southern Giudicato of Cagliari. A Pisan faction war ended with their defeat near Massa in 1213, after which their role in Pisa declined.

The Gallura line ran through Lambert, Ubaldo, John and Nino. Nino, grandson of Ugolino della Gherardesca, was driven from Pisa in 1288 and died in Sardinia in 1296; Dante placed his hanged chaplain Gomita in the eighth circle of the Inferno. Nino's daughter Joanna inherited the title and married Rizzardo da Camino, but on her death in 1308 the dynasty became extinct and Gallura passed to the Aragonese.