In one of the many descents of the Turkish corsair upon the Riviera, they had captured a Genoese girl about ten years of age, belonging, says the chronicle, to the illustrious family of the Calvi. Being of remarkable beauty she was sold by the pirates at a high price to a merchant who carried her into Spain. Here she grew more beautiful with years and inspired a son of the Duke of Alba with an ardent passion which he found means to satisfy. When Don Phillip came into Italy, the young man was obliged to accompany the cortège; but not wishing to leave the young woman, he took her on board one of the vessels and brought her to Genoa. Annina had never forgotten her parents and her native city; and as soon as she landed, she induced her pages by rich presents to find her lodgings on the piazza Maruffi, near the palace of Stefano Fieschi and in the residence of the Calvi. Annina entered her father’s house with joy, and, seizing a moment when her lover was occupied with Don Phillip, she dismissed her domestics and revealed herself to her parents. The embracings, the tears, the transports of tenderness, cannot be described. But the noble girl broke off these demonstrations of affection. “It is time that I think of my liberation. Though loaded with ornaments, I have been hitherto only a slave, and I owe it to my dignity and my blood to atone in the shadow of the altar for my dishonourable though forced manner of life. Take me to a convent before my master learns that I belong to you, and put me in a cell where none may ever hear my name pronounced.” Her parents approved her choice and at once sent her to a monastery near the city, where she was received under another name. She had scarcely departed when the knight came to find his mistress, and, inquiring for her, he read in the silence of the pages that she had fled. He was at the first moment about to wreak his anger on these servants; but he restrained himself and demanded of the Calvi the restoration of the girl. An angry contention arose which raised a tumult in that part of the city. In a few moments the piazza was full of men of both nations. Among the first to enter the house of Calvi to succour the Genoese was Giovanni Lavagna, allied by blood to the Fieschi. He was one of the most reckless warriors of his time. Encountering the Spanish knight at the head of the staircase surrounded by armed men and threatening the bystanders, he demanded the cause of his discourteous manners. Alba replied:-- “It does not concern thee, white moor and traitor that thou art!” Lavagna was not accustomed to receive abuse with patience, and he angrily retorted:--