 Aside from a brief period 1314-16 when the Filippeschi seized it, Torre Alfina was the symbolic center of Montaldeschi power.According to the family's history, the Monaldeschi had descended from Monaldo, a ninth-century Lombard feudatory of Charlemagne, whose three brothers were the progenitors of Florentine and Sienese nobles, the Cavalcanti, the Calvi and the Malevolti.The Monaldeschi appear in Orvieto documents from 1157.