There were many letters with instructions sent by the first Duke of Milan regarding the Piacenza area

The first Duke of Milan who succeeded the Visconti dynasty was Francesco Sforza, once also a great leader and man of arms. Piacenza, an integral territory of the Milanese dominion, became part of the duke’s attentions as early as his appointment in March 1450.

The only way, ancient and centuries-old, to communicate with the subjects of his immense duchy, was that of the missive, that is, the letter, but missive was the right term used at that time: a messenger (an envoy) was needed for all this traffic of Informative.

We have sorted through quite a few, among the hundreds and thousands that are conserved in abundance in the State Archives of Milan. The letters were the order of the day, for the subordinates of the various cities for which they were intended.

We have made a selection among those destined for our city, and from these we can deduce the political, economic and even social traffic of that time, and a cross-section of the experiences of the time.

The duke found time to respond to requests even about the most curious or “down to earth” things and facts. Written rigorously by hand, in Italian of the time, rarely in Latin, so as to be immediately understood, the duke dictated and the secretary did the rest. There was a great coming and going of messengers on horseback going back and forth between Milan and Piacenza and vice versa to deliver the ducal parcels.

In January 1452 he wrote to the “Potestate Placentie” (Podestà of Piacenza) because he wanted to straighten the Po which is tortuous west of the city towards Calendasco: “we have ordered to make a quarry to draw the Po out of its bed where so much land circumvolves” and he also wants “three or four practical men from the town” to speak with the ducal engineer. On the other hand, here on the Po lived ducal Navaroli, with proven experience, who knew the meanders of the river, the shallows and the depths inside out.

Instead, in May he wrote to the captain of the citadel of Piacenza to immediately have “two good and reliable and large ports built, with ships and plates” that is, a bridge of boats on the Po with also a ferry, which can transport the horses of the soldiers “to be able to pass with as many horses as possible”.

In 1453 he wrote to the Podestà and to the captain of the city troops that “our official of the Porto de Po of that city of ours” had had his house in Piacenza devastated and ordered it to be restored to order. He wants him and the house to be “provided with household goods and other necessary things” so that he can live there comfortably.

In November 1453 he asked that the ammunition from the citadel and castle of Piacenza be sent to Cremona “to send to Cremona… all that powder from bombards (cannon) and schiopeti (rifles) that can be found inside our citadel and castle” and obviously by ship via the Po river.

Also in that period he orders that “the men and the municipality of Sancto Himento et Calendasco” are obliged to house the men-at-arms and horses of the leader “Bartholomeo Colleoni”, even if the people did not exactly agree. Housing soldiers and horses meant providing fodder, wine and food, obviously all produced, as we say today, “at zero kilometres”.

In 1454 he sent a letter to Benedetto della Corte, captain of the Citadel in the city, asking him not to “hang Mattheo da Pavia” but only to “put him in a tower base, so that he could not escape”. He used to keep the prisoners in the bottom of the towers, from where, as we know, very few came out alive also because they were in the dark, damp, supported only by a little food and water.

Again in 1354 with a letter he ordered the captain to place a certain “Polo da Cossena… as a homo worthy of death” at the bottom of a tower but “not to lay hands on him”. We therefore imagine these “tower funds” to refer, as far as the city is concerned, to each of the four towers of the Citadel.

Also in that year he orders that “Madonna Abbatissa and nuns of Sancta Chiara of the order of Sancto Francesco” here in Piacenza are no longer molested “by the praised foreigners” who live in a building in the courtyard and who continually disturb. And therefore so that “this desconzio et Damno” is not done to them, they must be removed absolutely without waiting.

But also for the Franciscan friars in Piazza Grande in Piacenza, Sforza requests that “some soldiers such as Alozano in his convent” be removed also because the friars “cannot have an organ made as they have ordered”, the captain has the clear order : “providerite de alozamento (housing) elsewhere”.

A letter from 1451 informs us that Filippo Confalonieri had “loaned him… two hundred and sixty stara of wheat” held in Borgonovo, the duke wants him to “immediately have us load said wheat on carts or on beasts” (on carts or oxen) to be taken to the Po river “where they will have to embark” for Casalmaggiore.

In 1450 the duke ordered the count of Val Tidone “Georgio de Arcellis” to put ammunition back into the fortress of Borgonovo “the fortress of Borgonovo has remained empty… you cannot find a long weapon one finger long for either offense or defense”. And without hesitation he orders that “you want to ensure that they are returned and returned to him” and asks for “bombardelle and rifles, get them ready”.

In September 1450 a letter from the Duke is for “comunitati et hominibus Castriarquati” so that the theft of grapes and fruit should stop “continuously making infinite steals in le uge et in li altri fructi tuo” (the uge are the grapes). Everything possible must be done to ensure that it does not happen again, “make every expedient remedy and provision, so that the said things cease and the restrictions are not removed”.

In 1454 he responded to a plea from the elders of Piacenza who complained about road thefts: the duke wrote to stop the “excesses that are committed in our Piasentino territory of the Strata Romea” beaten “by robbers”.

He orders that all those dedicated to stealing between Romea and Fombio be removed from that place “we will have them all removed”, it was time to say enough to the “robberies and violence that are carried out on the public roads”.

This is a short extract from the archives of the time, which shows us how for everything we turned to the opinion and order of Francesco Sforza, who also deliberated on issues not always of a political or military nature.

Entering the folds of our local history is always the discovery of something unexpected and unexpected, on the other hand a very “down to earth” world as perhaps we never imagined.