On the contrary, Paolo Moneglia and Manfredo Centurione had obtained possession of Varese, with little loss of life, through the treachery of its commandant, Giulio Landi, who surrendered it hoping to obtain the investiture of the feud. But this success by no means compensated for the losses under the walls of Montobbio. The castle of Cariseto opposed a vigorous resistance to the troops of the Republic. The people of that feud destroyed the roads, constructed fortifications and closed up the passes which led to the place. Boniforte Garofolo succeeded at length in forcing a path across the rugged summits of the surrounding hills and stormed the out-lying defences. The attack began at dawn of the 14th of April. The besieged flocked to the parapets, loop-holes and barbicans, and with their musquetry and cannon held the assailants at bay. The battle lasted the entire day. On the morrow, the Genoese artillery shattered a large tower which fell burying a considerable part of the defenders under its ruins. This misfortune discouraged the rest and they offered to make a conditional surrender of the place. Garofolo demanded a surrender at discretion, and the garrison insisted upon security for their lives and property. Gian Francesco Niselli, a friend of Fieschi and Pierluigi Farnese, was by accident in the place at the time of the assault, and he, seeing the hopelessness of the defence, sent messengers to Count Paolo Scotti requesting him to obtain the permission of Farnese for the retreat of the garrison into the territory of Piacenza. The duke readily consented, and the peasants and soldiers effected their retreat in the following night. They lit up fires on the side of the place which the enemy held and retired over broken and difficult foot-paths through the mountains. The duke had been deeply affected at the death of Gianluigi; but to avoid a rupture with the empire he had sent Ottavio Bajardi to Ferrante Gonzaga, offering his troops and even his own person to the imperial cause. But he at the same time contrived to have the Pope secure him immunity from imperial demands. He sent Agostino Landi, count of Compiano, to congratulate Doria on his escape from the perils which had overhung his house and sent back to him a great number of fugitive slaves, belonging to the Doria galleys, who had taken refuge in the mountains of Piacenza. He afterwards sent Salvatore Pocino to the emperor to deny charges of complicity with Gianluigi. The emperor knew all the facts and received the envoy with great coldness; but the duke’s son who was in the imperial service pleaded more successfully for his father.