The Ordelaffi origins are unclear, but themselves claimed a lineage with "Lor de Laffia", a Germanic soldier under service to Berengar I of Italy in 889.

The son of Teobaldo, Scarpetta Ordelaffi, starting a war against the Republic of Florence in 1302, with the support of the "White" Guelphs, led by Dante Alighieri.

In 1503, Cesare Borgia, styled "Duke of Romagna" only two years earlier, and his family lost their power in the Papal States, and Antonio Maria Ordelaffi gained control on Forlì once more.

Other descendants of Lor de Laffia moved to the Republic of Venice, and changed their surname into "Faliero" or "Faledro", the inverted form of "Ordelaf".

The family's decline began in 1355, when the Doge Marino Faliero tried to realise a coup d'état in Venice and establish a monarchy, but failed and was decapitated.