War of Ferrara - The Course of The War

The Course of The War

Venetian troops led by the condottiero Roberto Sanseverino attacked Ferrarese territory from the north, brutally sacking Adria, quickly overrunning Comacchio, attacking Argenta at the edge of the saltmarshes and besieging Ficarolo in May (capitulated 29 June) and Rovigo (capitulated 17 August).

Venetian forces crossed the Po River and in November 1482 stood before the walls of Ferrara and laid strict siege to the city. Sixtus appears to have had a change of heart at the season's advances, which now threatened to put Venice in an uncomfortably strong position in mainland northern Italy.

In the Papal States, the Colonna family took advantage of disorder, and fought pitched battles against their Della Rovere enemies. The main encounter, however, was the pitched Battle of Campomorto near Velletri, 21 August 1482, in which the Neapolitan troops were soundly defeated by Roberto Malatesta and the duke of Calabria was barely rescued by a contingent of his Turkish soldiers. Some Orsini castles also fell into papal hands, but where battle failed malaria succeeded : Roberto Malatesta's death in Rome on 10 September largely unraveled Papal successes in the Lazio. Sixtus made a separate peace with Naples in a truce of 28 November and a peace treaty was signed on 12 December.

His entreaties with Venice to cease hostilities were vigorously rebuffed, with threats of excommunication countered by the withdrawal of the Venetian ambassador, followed by Sixtus' interdict of Venice in May 1483. Now Sixtus granted free passage to Alfonso and his troops to go to defend Ferrara against the pope's recent allies, aided by papal troops under Virginio Orsini. A contingent of Florentine troops arrived also, and the fortunes of Este began to look much better.

In a diversionary maneuver, Venice sent Roberto Sanseverino to attack the Duchy of Milan under the pretext of supporting the rights of the Visconti heir, but the diversion was further diverted when Robert had to counter Alfonso, who was sacking Milanese territories. The war began to lose momentum.