(Montorio, Bardolino, Sorgate and Montecchiana). From the House of Este and the House of Gonzaga, they bought the Marquisate of Scurano, Bazzano and Pianzo, that of San Polo d'Enza, and in 1652 the Marquisate of Castelnovo di Sotto. On 19 November 1652, during the War of Candia, Bernardino, younger brother of Gaspare and Angelo, welcomed the Gherardinis among the noble families of the Great Council of the Republic of Venice, about the same time as did the Medicis. The two branches came together again in 1811. With the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Republic of Venice and Venice were occupied by the French and given to Austria, which would change the future of the Gherardinis. While their fiefs were occupied and absorbed by the Napoleonic kingdoms in 1805, the Gherardinis, after ten centuries of being Lords in Europe, lost their independence, which led them to reconsider their relations with the House of Habsburg and Austria. This is why they started to support the new cause of Risorgimento – the unity of Italy – and subsequently, following the unity, they took part in Italian political life and often served in the armed forces. A notable member was General Gian Claudio Gherardini. Other branches After the exile in 1300, a small branch stayed on in Tuscany but died out in the 18th century with four brothers: Hippolytus (died as a baby); Anthony (died in the war of Hungary); Alemanno (Knight of Malta) and Fabio, who was the last to die in Denmark in 1743. None of them left any heir. This was the branch Lisa Gherardini, the Gioconda, belonged to. In 1632, this branch and the current branch built the Chapel of Santa Maria della Neve in Montagliari (subsequently drawn by Leonardo da Vinci). In January 1857, with a Decree of the Duke of Modena, another branch took on "Gherardini-Parigi" as its surname in order to continue the line of Gian Marco Gherardini's mother, Alda Parigi of the Counts of San Severino. However, this branch too soon died out with the death of his grandson, Giulio, in the mid-20th century. From 1660 another branch lived in Lendinara and in Ferrara (Noble family of Lendinara, Counts of Lusia, Noble family of Ferrara). This branch originated with Francesco di Corradino but died out in 1830 in Ferrara because Francesco had only one daughter, Isotta, born in 1817. An older branch developed in France with