It was during the month of September that the French King Charles VIII first arrived with his horde of troops in Italy in 1494. News of this awoke the many self-protective towns and cities up and down the peninsula. All year the messengers had been criss-crossing city gates and palace walls relaying the latest news. Tense months and hectic weeks spent in worrying 'would they or won't they', gave way to more present worries of how to respond. Who would the French come for first?
It was the town of Asti that the French first occupied in Italy. Between Turin and Genoa, the broad plain where Asti sits is ringed by moutains opening toward present Alessandria. This makes it a natural place for the French to stop, coming from the west. Asti is in the plain of the Tanaro River which also runs into the Po River nearby. This then wends it's way east along the breadth of north Italy, snaking it's way to its many outlets into the Adriatic.
To the north-east of Asti lay Milan, the home of the close French ally il Moro, Ludovico Sforza. All year and the year before he had been working his many messengers and doing his best to cajole all sides. The French to come, for Rome and for Florence not to worry, for Venice and Naples to make separate pacts with the French. The Duke himself went with his retinue and a great number of fashionable ladies, to Asti to welcome the King.
There had been troubles along the way for the French and their allies. It is reported that the trek over the Alps had been too difficult for many. There were deserters, illnesses, even lack of available provisions. At one point Cardinal della Rovere (later Pope Julius II) had to address them and renew their convictions. Guicciardini gives us a version of his speech that ran for several pages. Whether accurate in all particulars it's accepted as what the cardinal is likely to have said, as some general outline. This cardinal would remain a passionate French ally and spokesperson until his end.
There were also problems for Naples. Don Federigo, nephew to the new king of Naples who had long served as an ambassador in France, had begun the first attack on the French Riviera, near Rapalle, just a few miles west of Genoa. After some initial successes, a thousand Swiss lance-soldiers were sent from the Duke of Orleans. They arrived and supported by the Genoese locals, drove off the invasion force of fellow Italians from the mainland. Those who did not run off into the mountains returned to Lepanto. This was the news that greeted the French King when they arrived in Asti. Good news for him and il Moro.
Ercole d'Este the Duke of Ferrra also arrived to greet the King. A man of much intelligence he came in person to show his good wishes, certainly, but we can safely assume, to more certainly strike a deal of his own. Here in Asti, they had several feasts and meetings to determine what next to do. King Charles himself had contracted some disease. The english translator of Guicciardini here calls it small-pox. They would stay, Guiciardini says, in Asti for a month or more.
Today, Asti is a commune of some 75,000 people. Then, it regularly had at most only a few thousand souls. As many had feared, with the French arrival, all the troops and their allies including Cardinal della Rovere, and the other visiting nobles, their attendants and so many other hangers on, the entire valley must have been overwhelmed with over 20,000 new sudden inhabitants. The Inns and taverns would all be full, camps in the countryside round about must have become the norm. Campfires would dot the fields at night. Horses had to be tethered or sheltered and fed. There had to be clergy to attend to the men as well, to give sermons, and hand out communion. Thank goodness it was harvest time.
