Italian Forces Countering French Troops Encamp Near Fornovo: June 27, 1495

When the French under their King Charles VIII assumed power so quickly in Naples, the rest of Italy began taking steps to remove them. The Duke of Milan who had spent so much time encouraging them to come began to fear losing his own sovereignty. And if Milan could be usurped, so the logic went at the time, so also could Venice be overwhelmed. Pope Alexander VI had sent an embassy to Emperor Maximilian who had called a Diet asking for funds to field an army. Florence had in the last year undergone a revolution and could not muster much of an army at the time.

Embassies and representatives met in secret, messengers sent and were received with little fanfare. Discussions of the Senate in Venice began in earnest and by the end of March they had entered into an agreement with Maximilian, the Pope, the Duke of Milan, both Spanish and Engllish Kings and the vestigial forces of Naples. They called this a Holy League and on March 31, called for the expelling of France from Italy. Venice hired Francesco Gonzaga II of Mantua as Captain of the forces that could be raised to lead against the French. A call to arms was made and forces began to marshall.

At first, they would attack the small bands of forces that the French had left along the length of Italy, thereby disrupting the links that Charles depended on for communication. Beyond these measured initial successes, problems arose between the League members as to which strategy to use moving forward.

On May 20 that year, Charles had decamped and the French began moving north out of Naples. Despite the huge number of forces that the French King commanded, his communication lines were in disarray and he had no backup or local allies. It had taken him six months to proceed through Italy and enter Naples. Now he and the French had a huge baggage train full of siezed goods and treasure taken from Italians and the numerous places they had laid waste to. This dramatically slowed the retreat back north.

The Venetian army and their allies under Francesco Gonzaga at last chose a spot to make camp and wait for the advancing French train. This was on June 27, 1495, near the town of Fornovo about 30km south and west of Parma.