Siege of Genoa (1522)

On 20 May, d'Avalos reached Genoa, established two camps, and began bombarding the city with artillery, concentrating his fire especially near the Lighthouse of Genoa. Fregoso, suspecting a plot by the Adorno's to surrender the city to the Spanish, had them expelled. The Spanish soon opened negotiations for surrender, demanding 150,000 ducats from Fregoso to save the city from sacking, but the proposal was rejected.^[4]

On 30 May, around sunset, Spanish infantry and Landsknechts simultaneously attacked the city from the west and the east. After two failed attempts, on the third, the infantrymen placed ladders on the walls near Porta San Tommaso and Porta dell'Arco, and within half an hour, over a thousand men managed to enter the city, after which the sacking began.
An hour after the entry of the imperial troops, Doge Ottaviano Fregoso and Pietro Navarro surrendered to d'Avalos and Gerolamo Adorno. Francesco II Sforza and Prospero Colonna then entered the city, and by the former's will, many monasteries and several noble palaces were saved from sacking, including those of the Adorno's and Fieschi's. The French fleet escaped from the port of Genoa, taking refuge in Savona.^[5]

Antoniotto II Adorno was elected the city's new Doge, replacing Ottaviano Fregoso. The imperial army broke camp and headed toward Tortona, aiming to counter the new French army that had meanwhile reached Turin. Sforza gave the Genoese the opportunity to buy back part of the booty gained from the sack of the city, which was estimated to amount to approximately 200,000 ducats.^[4]