Grimaldo Canella was the youngest son of Otto Canella

Otto Canella

Otto Canella was Consul of the Republic of Genoa in 1133, and an ancestor of the House of Grimaldi, the family that currently rules Monaco. The family takes its name from his youngest son Grimaldo.-Notes and references:...

 and Consul

Consul

Consul was the highest elected office of the Roman Republic and an appointive office under the Empire. The title was also used in other city states and also revived in modern states, notably in the First French Republic...

 of Genoa

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

 in 1162, 1170, and 1184. He is an ancestor and the namesake of the House of Grimaldi

House of Grimaldi

The House of Grimaldi is associated with the history of the Republic of Genoa and of the Principality of Monaco.-History:The Grimaldi family descends from Grimaldo, a Genoese statesman at the time of the early Crusades. He might have been a son of Otto Canella, a consul of the Republic of Genoa in...

, the ruling family of Monaco

Monaco

Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

.

A century later, in 1270, the Guelph families of Grimaldi and Fieschi

Fieschi family

The Fieschi were a noble merchant family from Genoa, Italy, from whom descend the Fieschi Ravaschieri Princes of Belmonte.They held the fief of Lavagna under the Holy Roman Emperors. As Counts of Lavagna the Fieschi represented the Emperor of the West in Liguria from the earliest years of the C11th...

 were forced into exile from Genoa. The Grimaldis ended up in the Guelph towns around Nice

Nice

Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...

. They made their first attempt to seize the Ghibelline fortress of Monaco in 1297, although they did not control it permanently until 1419. Thus the family became Princes of Monaco.