Da Varano

The Da Varano was an Italian noble family who had an important role in the medieval and Renaissance history of central Italy, as rulers of Camerino and other lands in the Marche and Umbria.

The family is first mentioned in the 13th century with one Prontaguerra ("Ready-at-War") da Varano, a powerful Guelph leader, who inaugurated the traditional appartenance of the family to that party. His descendant Gentile was also a Guelph leader in Camerino when the town was destroyed by Manfred of Sicily. In the aftermath of the Ghibelline defeat at the Battle of Benevento (1266), Gentile had the town rebuilt and he became its lord. He was made "Count of the Roman Campagna" by Pope Martin IV (1282), a title which was inherited by his son Rodolfo after Gentile's death two years later. Rodolfo was also capitano del popolo in Lucca.

Rodolfo's brother, Berardo, was commander of the papal army for Boniface VIII against the troops sent to Rome by King Philip IV of France. In 1316 Rodolfo died and Berardo became lord of Camerino; three years later he was made "Marquis of Ancona" by pope John XXI, for which he reconquered the territories of the Papal States in the Marche (Urbino, Fano, Osimo and Recanati). In 1322 he died and was succeeded by his son Gentile, who added Tolentino, Gualdo Tadino and San Ginesio to the family's lands.

At Gentile's death in 1355 Camerino and the da Varano territories went to his grandson Rodolfo, who supported cardinal Gil de Albornoz's campaign of reconquest of the Papal States against the local barons. Created gonfaloniere of the Roman Church by Pope Innocent IV, he won several battles against the league of the Ordelaffi and Visconti families. He was later commander of the Florentine army and fought against Bernabò Visconti.

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