Fieschi, mindful of old ties, conducted the negociation with so much dexterity that he obtained from Pallavicini more than the duke had dared to hope. A friendly and familiar correspondence always continued between them, as several letters we have had in our hands prove. Among them there is one of the 3rd of February, 1546—now preserved among the Farnesian papers in Parma—in which the count recommends to the duke a master-workman, Giacomo Merello, “a maker of cannon of rare skill in his profession,” who had a law-suit with another master workman in Parma. In these letters the count acknowledges that he has received many favours from the duke.
In their many interviews in Piacenza, Farnese, who knew what had been said and done at Rome, spoke freely of his hatred towards Cæsar, who had openly favoured the Pallavicini, and who was a constant enemy of the advancement of the Farnese family. He avowed that he was ready to throw himself into any undertaking which should promise him revenge. The count in his turn, enlarged on the enmity between himself and the Dorias, the oppressors of his country, on the plots of Gianettino, already known to him, and finally asked the assistance and support of the duke in his contemplated insurrection. It is needless to say that the duke gave liberal promises of aid in a work which would take away the influence of the Dorias, his hereditary enemies, and doubtless add something to his personal importance and wealth.
Meantime Gianluigi, who could ill tolerate delay, enlisted in his service a large number of men, then just discharged from the ducal army, and distributed them among his most remote castles. Having returned to the city, he kept Farnese advised, by frequent messengers and letters of all his movements and successes. Some of these letters are now passing through the press. In one of these, dated the 17th of April, he complains to the duke that Gianettino had given him an order from Cæsar to send his fourth galley to cruise for pirates; he speaks of plots woven for him by the young admiral, and asks the advice of Farnese.
The Duke advised that his plans be hurried forward, and mentioned, as a special inducement, that Renèe, of France, duchess of Ferrara, had again offered French aid through Pierluigi. But it is certain that the count made no more use of this offer than he had made of others like it.
We find in ancient chronicles a statement which would be greatly to the credit of both Farnese and Fieschi. They had, according to these writers, laid the foundations of a league common to all the Italian princes, the object of which was to remove from the Peninsula every vestige of foreign power; but historical fidelity compels us to say that we have found no document which clearly proves the fact. In July, the count went to Montobbio, drilled his vassals in military exercises, and put his castles in such a state of defence as to be able to resist a long siege. He then went through, one after another, his principal feuds. It is worth our while to touch in passing upon the condition of some of them at the time of which we write.
Passing along the Eastern Riviera from Genoa, the count would first enter into Recco. It was then a large borough with three hundred and seventy-four fires, and he had built in it a superb palace called the Astrego. He drew from this feud select mariners, to man his galleys. He visited Roccatagliata and Cariseto, castles of considerable strength. He added to their defences and supplied them with provisions. We find that he spent some time at the castle of Varzi, on the slope of Penice, formerly one of the principal fortresses of the Malaspini, near Bobbio. He remained longer still in Lavagna. This region, though not then so prosperous as it was before Frederick II., reduced it to a desert, (1245) and levelled the fourteen castles which the counts had built there, was yet a feud of considerable importance, on account of its slate quarries.
The Lavagna property included, to say truth, only a little group of a hundred and thirty-six houses, but the surrounding country was adorned with many burghs, as Centurion, San Salvatore, the earliest seat of the Fieschi family, Cogorno and Brecanecca, forming in all five hundred and seventeen fires and six churches. Besides the valley of Lavagna was full of little estates and burghs, such as Torre, Vignale, Villa Fronte, Aveglio, Cortemiglio, Rimaglio, Pregio, Bausalo and Oneto. Lavagna was the heart of the Fieschi dominion. From this point it was easy to lay hands on the Lombard provinces or to draw thence men and arms. In those days the burgh of Sestri, close by, was one of the most busy points of transit, and was the best station from which to send goods into Lombardy. Merchandise was transported from Sestri to Castiglione, and ten miles only remained to Varese, also the property of the Fieschi. It counted two hundred fires, and was prosperous with the trade of Lombardy. Then, crossing the Apennines, twelve miles of travel brought the merchant to Val di Taro, a burgh of one hundred and fifty houses, which overlooked forty-two villages, subject to Count Fieschi.
Having examined his resources and put his castles in a state of defence, constructing strong outer walls, for those which seemed to him to be weak, under pretence of “fortifying himself against the Duke of Piacenza, who was too fond of his neighbour’s property,” he passed over to Pontremoli.
Leandro Alberti, who visited this noble and luxurious castle about that period, says that it stood near the mouth of the Magra, and at the foot of the Apennines. It was fortified by three fortresses, and numbered eight hundred houses, while its jurisdiction embraced forty-eight contiguous burghs, not to mention the valleys of Volpedo, Rosano, Zeiri, and the hamlets along the banks of the Crania, which counted one thousand and eight hundred fires. Giustiniani says that the lord of Pontremoli could easily put under arms two thousand men.
Gianluigi spent some time here, having conferences with Count Galeotto Mirandola, the Pusterla and Cybo, the marquises of Valdimagra, the Bentivoglio, the Strozzi and others, who were restless under the imperial yoke; and in these negociations he was ably seconded by Catando d’Arimini and by Giulio Pojano, to whom he had assigned the command of his galleys.