The Lavagna property included, to say truth, only a little group of a hundred and thirty-six houses, but the surrounding country was adorned with many burghs, as Centurion, San Salvatore, the earliest seat of the Fieschi family, Cogorno and Brecanecca, forming in all five hundred and seventeen fires and six churches. Besides the valley of Lavagna was full of little estates and burghs, such as Torre, Vignale, Villa Fronte, Aveglio, Cortemiglio, Rimaglio, Pregio, Bausalo and Oneto. Lavagna was the heart of the Fieschi dominion. From this point it was easy to lay hands on the Lombard provinces or to draw thence men and arms. In those days the burgh of Sestri, close by, was one of the most busy points of transit, and was the best station from which to send goods into Lombardy. Merchandise was transported from Sestri to Castiglione, and ten miles only remained to Varese, also the property of the Fieschi. It counted two hundred fires, and was prosperous with the trade of Lombardy. Then, crossing the Apennines, twelve miles of travel brought the merchant to Val di Taro, a burgh of one hundred and fifty houses, which overlooked forty-two villages, subject to Count Fieschi. Having examined his resources and put his castles in a state of defence, constructing strong outer walls, for those which seemed to him to be weak, under pretence of “fortifying himself against the Duke of Piacenza, who was too fond of his neighbour’s property,” he passed over to Pontremoli. Leandro Alberti, who visited this noble and luxurious castle about that period, says that it stood near the mouth of the Magra, and at the foot of the Apennines. It was fortified by three fortresses, and numbered eight hundred houses, while its jurisdiction embraced forty-eight contiguous burghs, not to mention the valleys of Volpedo, Rosano, Zeiri, and the hamlets along the banks of the Crania, which counted one thousand and eight hundred fires. Giustiniani says that the lord of Pontremoli could easily put under arms two thousand men. Gianluigi spent some time here, having conferences with Count Galeotto Mirandola, the Pusterla and Cybo, the marquises of Valdimagra, the Bentivoglio, the Strozzi and others, who were restless under the imperial yoke; and in these negociations he was ably seconded by Catando d’Arimini and by Giulio Pojano, to whom he had assigned the command of his galleys.