The Scotti is an aristocratic family centered around Piacenza in Northern Italy. The family is also known as also known as "Douglas Scotti" for claiming descendancy from the Scottish Clan Douglas.
History.
Legne holds that a knight from the Douglas Clan came from Scotland to fight the under Charlemagne and against the Lombards. After his service, he putatively settled in Piacenza. However little documentation affirms this legend.
The first documentation of a Scotti is of Rainaldo in 1184 serving as a consul of the collegio dei mercanti (guild of merchants). The Guelph-leaning Scotti family was often in conflict or competition with the Ghibelline Piacentine family of the Anguissola. The Scotti were successful and had affiliations with merchants and bankers throughout Europe from Portugal to Flanders.
Among the most prominent members of the family, Alberto Scotti became signore (Lord) of Piacenza roughly during 1280–1290. In 1302, he was one of the leaders of an alliance that exiled the Visconti Family from Milan, but continued conflicts led to his exile from Piacenza in 1304. Although the shifting fortunes had him return to control of Piacenza for periods during the following two decades, in 1317 he was captured and died in Crema in 1318. Alberto's son Francesco was able to regain Piacenza in 1335, but for less than a year, when he was expelled by the Visconti family.
In 1414, the heirs of Giacomo Scotti were granted the title to the counties of Castell'Arquato, Fiorenzuola, and Vigoleno by the Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, who also allowed them to name themselves the name of "Scotti Douglas".
In the church of San Giovanni in Canale, Piacenza, is a burial monument of Scotti used since the 14th century.
In 1475, Giovanni Maria Scotti, Count of Vigoleno, married Aloisia Gonzaga, daughter of Francesco I Gonzaga-Novellara. Other prominent members of the family include: