Grimaldo Canella

Origins Canella was probably born in Genoa around 1110, son of Genoese patrician Otto Canella, then Consul of Genoa, who would originate from the Lords of Vezzano Ligure, and his wife, Adelasia, probably a local noblewoman. Grimaldo was the youngest of the brothers: Rubaldo, Bellamunto, Otto, Bulzaneto and Anna Canella.

Career Politician and man-at-arms, Grimaldo appears for the first time in a document dated October 2, 1158.

Grimaldo Canella was several times Consul of Genoa, and served as ambassador to Federico Barbarossa in 1158 and to the Emir of Morocco in 1169.

In this context, the figure of Grimaldo therefore stands as that of the eponymous progenitor, the famous consul whose descendants wanted to keep his name as the surname of the same family. As progenitor Grimaldo is placed between the dark history and the beginning of the fame of the family. In fact, historians and heraldists have fabled about him ancestries and mythical origins.

A century later, in 1270, the families of Grimaldi and Fieschi were forced into exile from Genoa. The Grimaldis ended up in the towns around Nice. They made their first attempt to seize the fortress of Monaco in 1297, although they did not control it permanently until 1419. Thus the family became Princes of Monaco.