Guidi di Bagno is an ancient noble family originally from Germany, which was first transplanted in Romagna (Bagno di Romagna) and then in Mantua in the fourteenth century. The branch of the family originates from Riccardo dei conti Guidi di Bagno who married Filippa Gonzaga, nephew of Feltrino Gonzaga.
Palatini counts of Tuscany. The main castles, from which the various family branches took their name, were however those of Poppi, Romena, Porciano in the upper Valdarno, of Bagno and Montegranelli, in the valley of the Savio, of Dovadola and Modigliana in the valley of the Montone.
Descendants from a Tegrimo of the century X, multiplied in various branches in the XIII-XVI centuries; they were slowly tamed in the following ones and today they are reduced to a few families. The Guidi, in the first phase of their ascent, ie when they were humble rural lords in the Pistoiese, boldly rushed to conquer the city, leaning on the people and the bishop, and at the same time treating with feudalism; then, this attempt failed, they had to retreat into the castles of the Tuscan-Romagna Apennines; later still, they threw themselves headlong into the centuries-old struggle against cities like Florence, Pistoia, Arezzo, Faenza, Forlì, Bologna and Ravenna. After which came the decadence. However, when the city governments were oriented towards the lordship and then the principality, Guidi reappeared as vicars, podestàs, captains, lords, adventurers, diplomats, prelates, etc., so as to resume in a certain way the place of their ancestors, often in the same cities that had already humiliated them. Lastly, times have changed, descendants of this family reappear, in the orbit of the courts or in private activities, as soldiers, as diplomats, as men of study, as religious.
Origins and branch of Bagno-Raggiolo (X-XV centuries). - It is certain that we can not go back, with sure documents, beyond the century. X, when the Tegrimo appears, probable progenitor. A marriage with an heiress of the family of the Onesti dukes of Ravenna brought to G. the first conspicuous goods of Romagna. Concessions followed cleverly followed by sovereigns of the time followed. Then came the decadence of the marginal power, which was accompanied by the rise of minor feudality (Alberti, Cadolingi, Aldobrandeschi, Gherardeschi, Guidi). Among the latter, there were the accounts of Tegrimo I, Guido I, Guido II, Guido III, Guido Guerra I and Guido Guerra II (called the "marquis" because it was adopted by Countess Matilde di Canossa). But when the Communes established themselves, the G. had to end up surrendering to the imposing and solid forces of the cities. They took part in the crusades, sided sometimes for the cities and for the Guelphs in the fights against the Swabians, but they no longer had an important political function. The internal discords also weakened them. Therefore, from the middle of the century XIV in the mid-15th century, they were influenced by the major Municipalities of central and northern Italy, as well as by the first lords, such as Della Faggiuola, Castruccio Castracani, Ordelaffi, Tarlati, Malatesta, Visconti, Estensi, etc. However, at this stage of the history of the G., some notable figures emerge: Count Guido Novello I, one of the great Ghibelline chiefs victorious in Montaperti (September 4, 1260), then podestà and vicar general of war in Tuscany, in the name of king Manfredi, and finally overwhelmed by this misfortune (Dante, Inf., XVI, 38); the counts Simone I, Guglielmo Novello I, Federico Novello (from which the accounts of Raggiolo), Manfredi (first Ghibelline, then Guelph and finally Ghibelline again), Guido Novello II (friend of Cino da Pistoia), Guglielmo Novello II (also now Guelph, now Ghibelline); Guido IV, a great supporter of the Visconti against Florence. From the middle of the century XIV at the end of the fifteenth this branch is slowly decaying, because it can not conquer a stable lordship. It counts insignificant personalities, who either give themselves as a partner to cities like Florence, a traditional enemy, or they move unimaginably into the orbit of the great mercenary leaders.