Page 90 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

90 from Italy to the Canary Islands

ince of Savona). This would inevitably give rise to a long series of local
conflicts which in turn would have to end with the victory of the stronger
city, or rather, to be more precise, of the most populous city (which was as
such able to place the largest number of soldiers on the field), i.e. Genoa
over smaller Savona.
We would like to mention a few dates.
On 5 May 1227 the Genoese militia forced the castle of Albissola (one
th
of the Malocello family places, as we will see), the area surrounding which
belonged to Savona, to surrender; the obvious result was that all the sur-
rounding area was handed to Genoa.
Two more expeditions in 1227 had captured the two fortified castles of
Albissola and Stella (Uberto Foglietta, Historia [History], book III, year
1233, column 136) resulting in these territories, too, being conquered by
Genoa.
In 1239, however, these territories were the subject of a great rebellion
to the power of Genoa (A. Giustiniani, Annali della Repubblica di Genova,
[Annals of the Republic of Genoa 1834], Genoa 1834, page 363), a rebel-
lion which was suppressed with difficulty.
In 1241 the town of Varazze (another place of the Malocello family) re-
solved to offer to the Captain of Fortune Pallavicino, in the pay of Genoa,
some small fortresses to defend himself from the reprisal of Savona (Uber-
to Foglietta, Historia [History], book III year 1240, column 447).
In 1251 the representatives of Savona would meet in Varazze with the
Podestà of Genoa Menabò di Torricella, who was getting ready to besiege
Savona with a large army (Caffaro Annales, book VI, column 518). This
convention took place in the church of Sant’Ambrogio in Varazze from
17 to 19 February 1251 and concluded with an official deed called “Con-
th
th
ventions”, with which Genoa acknowledged its stronghold over Savona
and Albenga; with this, almost all of the West of Liguria can be said to
have fallen under the domination of Genoa from that date onwards.
To conclude, we could say that the territory of Varazze, Celle and Albis-
sola formed a joint defence between Savona and Genoa, with the clear aim
of allowing the latter to keep the former under control.