The Pepoli family was an Italian aristocratic banking family of Bologna, in northern Italy. They were lords of the city for thirteen years in the fourteenth century.
A branch of the family moved to Trapani in Sicily and were granted several feudal lordships and baronies.
Oval ceiling frescoes by Canuti in Palazzo Pepoli Campogrande
Monument to Taddeo Pepoli, Basilica of San Domenico, Bologna, 1347
A signoria was the governing authority in many of the Italian city-states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods.
The word signoria comes from signore, or "lord", an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government", "governing authority", de facto "sovereignty", "lordship"; pl.: signorie.
Palazzo Vecchio, the former seat of the Signoria of Florence