[5] Historically influential in Florence, the Gheradinis were also featured in Florentine Histories, a book written by Niccolò Machiavelli at the request of the Medicis.

The Gheradinis also married into other Renaissance families across the centuries such as the Medicis, Strozzis, Bardis, Albizzis, Altovitis, Frescobaldis, Albertis, Balestrieris, and Ricasolis.

[7][8] According to the most recent university research, in 856 the family founded the Church of San Piero a Ema (with Gaifredo) and "nepotes Ceci" as a sobriquet.

According to Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, a French historian, the Gherardinis from Montagliari were "instigators of disorders", "with little desire to participate in public life".

This deeply independent character must have been at the basis of the family's decision not to abide by the new rules of the rising Commune of Florence such as the Ordinances of Justice of 1296 which aimed at forcing aristocracy to give up their names of origin and privileges.

According to historians (and contemporaries of the time), the accusation was based on false documents and invented by Cante Gabrielli, the Podestà, to stamp out this family and its allies once and for all.

A few years later, Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor tried to remove this family from Valdelsa but did not succeed because the Castle of Linari, led by Vanne Gherardini, withstood the summer siege of 1313.

[14] After the fall of Montagliari, and the subsequent loss of their land and properties in Val d'Elsa, the last Gherardinis (except a small group) went into exile to Verona that, at that time, was under the Empire.

Initially they were members of the retinue of Louis VII of France, called the Young, and then they were with Henry II of England and went to conquer Ireland, where they started the FitzGerald dynasty.

[17] In 1633 thanks to Gaspare and Angelo, the main branch, that had settled in Verona between 1300 and 1400, added some properties in the Emilia region to the fiefs they had received when they had arrived (Montorio, Bardolino, Sorgate and Montecchiana).

On 19 November 1652, during the War of Candia, Bernardino, younger brother of Gaspare and Angelo, welcomed the Gherardinis among the Venetian noble families of the Great Council of the Republic of Venice, about the same time as did the Medicis.

While their fiefs were occupied and absorbed by the Napoleonic kingdoms in 1805, the Gherardinis, after ten centuries of being Lords in Europe, lost their independence, which led them to reconsider their relations with the House of Habsburg and Austria.

In January 1857, with a Decree of the Duke of Modena, another branch took on "Gherardini-Parigi" as its surname in order to continue the line of Gian Marco Gherardini's mother, Alda Parigi of the Counts of San Severino.

According to a well-documented historical event referring to Peter and Lotto, sons of Noldo of the Gherardinis, in August 1343, they followed Walter VI of Brienne, Duke of Athens, to France.

The Marquis René de Girardin (1735–1808), owner of the Château d'Ermenonville and friend of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, claimed to belong to this branch.

The Gherardinis of Ireland branch started by Thomas, Gerard and Maurice, sons of Gherardino, still exist today and is headed by the Duke of Leinster.

[27] Marriages of the Gherardinis over the centuries included the Houses of Medici, Strozzi, Bardi, Albizzi, Altoviti, Frescobaldi, Balestrieri, Alberti, Ricasoli, among others.

[7][8][27] The Gherardinis were also related to the Amidei, according to historian Ricordano Malespini, and thus to its cousin branch, the House of Piccolomini, who were Patricians of Siena and allies of Vlad Dracula and the Venetians during the reign of Pope Pius II.

[28] Many of these families played a major role in the Renaissance, and were patrons of famous figures such as Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Vasari, Brunelleschi, Botticelli, Machiavelli, and many others.

Also, their relatives, the House of Bardi, who were a noble family of bankers during the Age of Discovery, were early financiers of John Cabot and Christopher Columbus and their expeditions to the Americas.

Some serious patronage is well documented like the commission given to Fra Angelico to create an altarpiece for the family chapel near the Church of Santo Stefano al Ponte in Florence.

At the bottom of its frame, visitors can read the following: Florentiae clarissimae Gherardinis familiae nos J.Raphaelus Dominus Cynthiaque MariaTeresia Dominae comites hanc operam in Gherarducci memoriam Sancti Appiani Templo donant.

The magazine stated that the three families have maintained relationship among them even in recent time or in the past (for example with American President John Fitzgerald Kennedy).

[36][37] Some of the most recent and best known members of the Gherardini family are: Marquis Maurizio, Great Chamberlain of the Emperor of Austria and Austria's Minister Plenipotentiary at the Kingdom of Sardinia; Princess Cristina Trivulzio Belgiojoso (daughter of Marchioness Vittoria Gherardini), first female newspaper director whom Carlo Cattaneo defined the "first lady of Italy" for her commitment towards national unity; Marquis Gian Marco, Chairman of the Savings Bank of Reggio Emilia and Podestà of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia from 1851 to 1854.