[2] In 1576 it became autonomous again as a result of the division between the brothers Antonio Maria, Octavian, Giovanni Gaspar and Caesar, sons of Giovan Cristoforo Malaspina.

But the fief did not remain in the hands of Antonio Maria for long and in March 1577 he sold it for 21,000 scudi to Francesco I de' Medici, who received the imperial investiture the following year.

[3] On 4 July 1592 Ferdinando I de' Medici granted the marquessate to Giulio Cibo Sale[4] for 'the sincere devotion shown on several occasions to the Florentine court' and a payment of 30,000 scudi in gold.

[5] Giulio was installed in the fief, which included the castle and the surrounding territory, which could be inherited by males and females, provided that the marquisate was kept undivided.

In 1749, the Doge Gian Francesco II Brignole Sale, breaking with the policy of his predecessors, decided to directly administer his lands and dispense justice himself in an attempt to detach the Marquessate by refusing to apply the laws of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

At his death in 1760, his brother Rodolfo II Brignole-Sale inherited the Marquessate and from then on the Grand Duchy of Tuscany unceasingly attempted to recover Groppoli.

Maria Brignole-Sale, Duchess of Galliera created a charity, Opera Pia Brignole Sale di Voltri, and endowed it with the estate in 1877.