Compagnia di San Giorgio

Personnel were also sent by Visconti's allies: Calcino Tornielli, lord of Novara; Louis, son of Aymon of Savoy; Obizzo III d'Este of Ferrara; Ludovico I Gonzaga of Mantua; Thomas II of Saluzzo; Taddeo Pepoli of Bologna; and Bertram, Patriarch of Aquileia.

In 1377 Alberico da Barbiano,[1] one of the main Italian condottieri, founded the most successful of the three Compagnie di San Giorgio.

The company included other famous condottieri, such as Muzio Attendolo, Braccio da Montone, Ugolotto Biancardo, Jacopo dal Verme, Facino Cane, and Ottobuono de' Terzi.

The reason for this decision by Barbiano is not clear, but perhaps it came after he saw the atrocities of foreign mercenaries under John Hawkwood during the so-called Cesena Bloodbath of 1377.

The company helped Pope Urban VI against Antipope Clement VII, defeating a Breton mercenary army at Marino in 1379.