Ezzelino III da Romano (April 25, 1194 – October 7, 1259) was an Italian feudal lord in the March of Treviso (the modern Veneto) who was a close ally of the emperor Frederick II and ruled Verona, Vicenza and Padua for almost two decades. He became infamous as a cruel tyrant though much of his sinister reputation may be due to the propaganda of his many enemies.

Ezzelino was son of Ezzelino II da Romano, ruler of Bassano, and Adelaide degli Alberti di Mangona, who came from a family of counts in Tuscany. At the age of four years he was sent as a hostage to Verona. Nothing else is known about his childhood or education. In 1213 he took part in the siege of the castle of Este, which belonged to his father's archenemy, marquis Azzo VI of Este, who died in 1212, and later to his son Aldobrandino. According to the chronicler Rolandino of Padua, the young Ezzelino already showed a keen interest in siegecraft and acquired a hatred of the Este which would last his entire life.

When Ezzelino II retired to a monastery in 1223, his possessions went to his sons Alberico, who got the castles and villages in the contado of Vicenza (including the important centre of Bassano) and Ezzelino, who got the possessions in the contado of Treviso. In 1226 Ezzelino intervened in a faction struggle in Verona and aided the Veronese factions of the Monticuli and Quattuorviginti against their enemies, the so called pars comitis ("party of the" count), which was headed by the Veronese count Richard of San Bonifacio. From this time onwards Ezzelino became an important factor in Veronese politics. In 1226/1227 he was podestà of the city.

Alberico da Romano (1196 – 26 August 1260), called Alberico II, was an Italian condottiero, troubadour, and an alternatingly Guelph and Ghibelline statesman. He was also a patron of Occitan literature.

Alberico was born in the castle of San Zenone to Ezzelino II da Romano and Adelaide Alberti di Mangona. He was brother of Ezzelino III and Cunizza. He married twice. From his first marriage, to a noblewoman from Vicenza named Beatrice, he had one daughter, Adelaide, who married Rinaldo d'Este in 1235, and five sons: Ezzelino, killed in battle in 1243; Alberico; Romano; Ugolino; and Giovanni. From his second marriage to Margherita he had three daughters: Griselda, Tornalisce, and Amabilia.

Politically allied with his brother Ezzelino, Alberico served as podestà of Vicenza on behalf of the Emperor Frederick II in 1227. In 1239 he was became detached from the Ghibelline faction and allied with the Guelph Guecellone da Camino. That same year he aided the Milanese against the emperor. In 1240, as a Guelph, he conquered Treviso and became its podestà, governing it as a Ghibelline until 1257. Pope Alexander IV excommunicated him and, in 1259, on the death of his brother in the Battle of Cassano d'Adda, he was chased from the city of Treviso and took refuge in the castle of San Zenone with most of his family.