The date of his succession is also presumptive, as there is a silence in the sources between the last mention of William II and the first of Torchitorio V. When he first appeared as Judge in 1254, he was ruling in name only; the real power in Cagliari was in the hands of the families of the Gherardeschi, Visconti, and Capraia.
Frustrated by the increasing interference of Pisa in his giudicato, Chiano cautiously turned to the Republic of Genoa for allies.
Chiano was left with only a house in Cagliari, but he was offered a palace in Genoa and the hand in marriage of daughter of Malocello's family, which he was constrained by the treaty to accept.
Following this, the filopisani[2] judges of Gallura and Arborea, John Visconti and William of Capraia, invaded Cagliari and besieged the eponymous chief city.
Chiano, then in Genoa, left that city with twenty four galleys and followed the Tuscan coast, capturing some Pisan vessels along the way.