 He is best remembered as a character in the poetry of Dante Alighieri and Giovanni Boccaccio.Conrad Malaspina was born sometime in the first two decades of the 13th century.Natural son of Frederic I, Marquess of Villafranca in Lunigiana and of Virgoletta, he was raised by his grandfather Conrad the old, the forefather of the Spino Secco branch of the Malaspina, lords of Lunigiana since the 11th century.