First Italian War

The First Italian War was a two-year conflict which occurred during Episode XIV of Varna. With extracts from Giovanni Morosini's book about the events surrounding Milan and Italy, he noted how Sardinia and the Italic Union had been planning an invasion of central Italy for months. War was declared in 1527, a little earlier than Sardinia had planned, but Italia could not risk the central Italians confirming any rumours about their involvement in the demise of Venice. Specifically, it was Lucca who revealed to Italia that such a discussion was taking place, hence war was declared on June 5th. King Ferrante of Italia had suspected such a meeting, due to their previous affiliation with Romagna and Urbino, so they had approached Lucca when they were drafting their invasion plans. The Papal State was not aware of the secret meeting, but they were still invaded as per the Italic invasion plan. In only two months, Roma was besieged by the Italic armies. Three other cities were also besieged in this time; Lucca, Ferrara in Romagna, and Ancona in the Italic Marche. However in early August, the frontlines stopped, except in Roma, where Italic troops closed in on the city and sacked it. Before the sack, the pope, Clement VII, had escaped, along with one Cardinal Angelo Marangon who Ferrante wanted to see dead.
"Europe is in complete disarray. News of the Italic sack of Rome spread over Italy like wildfire."
- Giovanni Morosini, "Milan, September 6th, 1527, 10th anniversary of the ending of the Great Mediterranean War."
Since the Pope was missing, a conclave was held and a new pope was elected. Pompeo Colonna, styled as Pope Gennarus I, was commissioned by Italia, and he agreed to cede Umbria to them. Going into 1528, Sardinia landed in Piombino and marched north to relieve the siege of Lucca, capturing and annexing Pisa along the way. Then in April, when Sardinia captured Livorno, and Italia captured Grosseto and Arezzo, three accordingly-named vassal states were carved out of Florence and Siena. The two states were forced to pay mercenaries to hold the line throughout spring and summer, but then Italic king Ferrante broke the line in September, and on October 18th, Italic troops reached the city of Siena, which fell in two weeks. The central Italians had lost all hope, and so the Italic, Sardinian and Lucchese troops advanced inwards. In early February of 1529, both Florence and Bologna were under siege, and the former fell first. With that, Lucca annexed all of Florence and the city of Siena, forming the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. Romagna surrendered shortly afterwards, in late March. Throughout April, the Duke of Urbino then wrote a letter to a certain Giano Loredan, as the Italic armies closed in on the city of Urbino and captured it. With the annexation of Romagna and Urbino, the Italic Union was finally able to link Napoli to Venezia by land, but their trouble was not over just yet...
"On May 6th, 1529, the Italic troops stormed Urbino, bringing an end to the First Italian War." - Giovanni Morosini