The Bonacolsi were a noble family who ruled

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and '' comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture. In 2017, it was named as the Eur ...

in the last quarter of the 13th century and the first quarter of the 14th. Pinamonte Bonacolsi was appointed one of two ''rectors'' of the commune on 12 July 1272, at first for a period of two months, internal strife among the extended kinship groups of the commune having reached excessive violence and murder. Within a few months Pinamonte was able to accuse and exile his co-rector Federico da Marcaria and the

podestà Podestà (, English: Potestate, Podesta) was the name given to the holder of the highest civil office in the government of the cities of Central and Northern Italy during the Late Middle Ages. Sometimes, it meant the chief magistrate of a city ...

, and gather power into his own hands. A communal reform in 1274 gave him a new position, ''capitano del popolo'', which Pinamonte soon assumed for life. Pinamonte pacified the city by exiling the most troublesome of the families, confiscating their goods, made peace among his neighbors, declared allegiance to the distant Emperor as a Ghibelline city; Mantua entered on a prosperous period. On 29 September 1291, Pinamonte's son, Bardellone, unseated his father in a coup; putatively, Bardellone was co-governor with his father, but nothing further is heard about the father, who died officially unnoticed, 7 October 1293. Bardellone's brother Tagino was exiled to

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

, where he formed lasting ties with the Este. Bardellone replaced the commune's ''consiglio maggiore'' with a ''consiglio del signore'', 2 July 1294. Tagino's pardon and return from Ferrara in 1298 began a shift in Mantuan alliance from

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

to the Este in Ferrara, cemented by accords signed in Ferrara, 24 June 1299.

Alberto I della Scala Alberto I della Scala (died 3 September 1301) was lord of Verona from 1277, a member of the Scaliger family. The son of Jacopino della Scala, he was ''podestà'' of Mantua in 1272 and 1275. In 1277, after the assassination of his brother Mastino ...

, lord of Verona, who favoured Bardellone's nephew Guido Bonacolsi, took immediate action and entered Mantua at the head of troops. Della Scala deposed and exiled Bardellone and Tagino, and installing as ruler of Mantua, Guido Bonalcolsi, who then married Alberto's recently widowed daughter Costanza at the beginning of September. Statute of 1303 made Guido Bonacolsi captain-general of the city and

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

of Mantua and gave him unlimited powers, combining the executive, legislative, fiscal and judiciary, to "impose bans, absolve and convict... make war, enter truces, concords and peace, acquire friends, contract alliances, receive and rehabilitate exiles,appoint, install, dismiss, acquit and convict the ''

'', rectors, judges, assessors, and all other officials and administrators, grant or remove their salaries,, convene councils and assemblies such that no councils, assemblies or meetings may be held without his special license..."Quoted in David Abulafia, Rosamond McKitterick eds. ''The New Cambridge Medieval History, c. 1198 — c. 1300'' 1999:477. Guido died 24 January 1309, and was succeeded by his brother Rinaldo "Passerino", who had been an ally of

Cangrande I della Scala Cangrande (christened Can Francesco) della Scala (9 March 1291 – 22 July 1329) was an Italian nobleman, belonging to the della Scala family which ruled Verona from 1308 until 1387. Now perhaps best known as the leading patron of the poet Dante ...

. The Gonzaga had initially been allies in the Bonalcosi takeover of Mantua, but now allied with the Scaliger family of Verona, rebelled. On 16 August 1328, Rinaldo, the last Bonacolsi, was overthrown in a revolt backed by Ludovico I of the

House of Gonzaga ) , type = Noble house , country = , estates = Ducal Palace (Mantua)Ducal Palace (Nevers) , titles = * Prince of Arches * Duke of Montferrat * Duke of Mantua * Duke of Guastalla * Duke of Nevers * Du ...

. Palazzo Bonacolsi (now Palazzo Castiglioni) that stands in piazza Sordello was commenced by Guido Bonacolsi as the Palazzo del Capitano. It was continued as the Palazzo Ducale by the Gonzaga. A lesser member of the clan, the sculptor

Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi Pier Jacopo Alari Bonacolsi (c. 1460–1528), called L'Antico by his contemporaries, and often Antico in English, the nickname given for the refined interpretation of the Antique they recognized in his work, was a 15th- and 16th-century North It ...

(c. 1460–1528), was nicknamed "L'Antico" by his contemporaries for his refined interpretation of the Antique.

Notes

{{Reflist, 2 Italian noble families Mantua