Note 144 — PIERO DI COSIMO DE’ MEDICI (continued 2)

Sarzana and Sarzanella had been bought the year before by Piero de’ Medici from Lodovico di Campo Fregoso. They were valuable to Florence as Sarzana commanded the direct road from Milan to Florence which near there lay between the mountains and the sea. An invasion from the north was thus rendered difficult, while an attack on Lucca could be carried out without fear of her allies being able to come swiftly to her help. Sarzanella, the fine fortress built by the great Lucchese Ghibelline, Castruccio Castrocane, in its turn commanded Sarzana.