The House of Della Torre were an Italian noble family who rose to prominence in Lombardy during the 12th–14th centuries, until they held the lordship of Milan before being ousted by the Visconti.
Coat of arms in the Torriani Book of hours (1490)
The Visconti of Milan are a noble Italian family. They rose to power in Milan during the Middle Ages where they ruled from 1277 to 1447, initially as Lords then as Dukes, and several collateral branches still exist. The effective founder of the Visconti Lordship of Milan was the Archbishop Ottone, who wrested control of the city from the rival Della Torre family in 1277.
Depiction of the biscione swallowing a child, the coat of arms of the House of Visconti, on the Archbishop's palace in Piazza Duomo in Milan, Italy
1 March 1162, Ottone Visconti is the first Milanese appearing in the list of authorities surrendering to the Barbarossa after the capitulation of the city (19th-century engraving)
21 January 1277, after the victory obtained against the Della Torre in Desio, Archbishop Ottone Visconti enters Milan (14th-century fresco in the Rocca Borromeo di Angera)
Petrarch lived in Milan from 1353 to 1361, providing first-hand accounts from the Visconti court in his letters (portrait by Altichiero da Verona)