[2] By now in crisis in 1240 the noble faction suffered a split led by Pagano della Torre, who decided to merge with the Credenza di Sant'Ambrogio which appointed him Podestà.

Already coming from an important family, della Torre gained greater popularity when in 1237 he gave refuge in his possessions in Valsassina to what remained of the Milanese army that had been defeated in the Battle of Cortenuova.

In this short period of government he was able to form alliances with the powerful maritime republics of Venice and Genoa, and also extended the Milanese land registry, managing to lower taxes and calm the constant discontent of the citizens.

Following the riots, on 26 May 1247 the Papal legate Gregorio di Montelongo conferred the position of Elder of the Credenza to Pagano's nephew, Martino della Torre, who reorganised the municipal powers.

In a short time the fights between the Credenza and the aristocrats resumed and in 1253 Manfred II Lancia was called to govern the city, but after three years he decided to pass to the Ghibelline party, leaving Milan.

Thus in June 1258, only three months after the Peace of Sant'Ambrogio, the captains of Milan rushed to the aid of the Rusconi and this intervention provoked the prompt reaction of the Credenza which, by sending its troops, led the Vittani to victory who appointed Martino della Torre as podestà of Como.

To avoid further disorder, on March 30, 1259, in the Basilica of Santa Tecla, the election of a leader was proposed: Martino della Torre was a candidate on the side of the Credenza, Azzolino Marcellino for the Motta, and finally Guglielmo da Soresina for the nobles.

At that point, the stalemate was broken by the papal legate, the archbishop Embrun Enrico da Susa, who invited Soresina and della Torre to leave the city to find an agreement.

Despite the centralization of powers, della Torre was unable to have his cousin Raimondo, a direct descendant of Pagano, elected bishop, who was instead assigned to the Diocese of Como.

In 1271 due to the continuous wars and the increase in taxes, countless revolts against Milanese rule followed: first Brescia and then Lodi, Como, Crema, Cremona and Novara.

[12] Under the rule of Napo della Torre, Milan was modernized by a large program of public works that radically transformed it, making it the true metropolis of Northern Italy.

Cassone, however, attacked Visconti at the city of Gorgonzola and, due to the great defeat, was forced to ask William for help and in November of the same year he conferred upon him the office of Perpetual Lord of Milan, as previously requested.

In March 1285, Goffredo della Torre, after having gathered mercenaries in Bergamo and Como, entered the Milanese territory and took possession of Castelseprio which was destroyed by the Visconti two years later.

Having arrived at Morimondo, facing the army of Ottone Visconti he retreated, escaped to Alessandria where however he was captured and locked in a cage, where he remained for a year and a half until his death in 1292.

[15][16] The power of the della Torre family returns to the city but they are opposed by part of the population, while Matteo Visconti takes refuge in Nogarola as a guest of the Scaligeri, lords of Verona.

Matteo I Visconti, now elderly, 74 years old, retired to Crescenzago and died on 24 June 1322, leaving the government to his son Galeazzo I who was appointed lord of Milan on 10 July.

The government of Milan was entrusted to the Burgundian captain Giovanni di Chatillon, the vicar of Frederick the Fair who remained in Lombardy after the defeat of his lord.

Simone della Torre dies and the commander Raimondo da Cardona is captured, then freed to be able to discuss a peace treaty with the pontiff in Piacenza.

In 1327, with the death of his father, he remained the sole heir and in opposition to the pontiff, he bought the title of vicar of Milan from Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Lodrisio, also member of the Visconti family, who remained outside, staged a series of conspiracies in vain to depose the three; when all his accomplices were arrested by Azzone on 23 November 1332, and locked up in the prisons of Monza (called the Forni), he was forced to flee to Verona, where, as a guest of Mastino II della Scala, he wove a series of alliances, among which were the Scaligeri themselves and the Lord of Novara Calcino Tornielli, enemy of the Archbishop Giovanni.

[24] The war began on 23 January 1356 with the occupation of Asti, but in a short time the Marquis of Montferrat also conquered Alba, Cuneo, and also took Mondovì and Chieri from the Visconti.

The Visconti were soon forced to find allies and on 27 June they formed a league with James of Piedmont who however asked the two lords of Milan to also intervene against the marquis Thomas II of Saluzzo.

The territories of Mondovì, Morozzo, Cuneo and Cherasco taken from the Visconti were acquired in June 1356 by Philip II, Prince of Taranto, vicar in Piedmont of the queen of Naples, Joanna I.

Another problem for the Visconti was caused by Konrad von Landau, a military adventurer and an ally of the anti-Visconti league and head of the Great Company, who in November 1357 began to plunder the surroundings of Milan.

Finally on 6 April 1358 in Milan the peace conference opened in which all the Italian states participated including the Republic of Venice and the County of Savoy.

[25] From the initial congregation of cities under the dominion of a single lord, Giovanni and Luchino, but above all Gian Galeazzo and Bernabò, through an intense activity of consolidation of their supremacy implemented with the reduction of local autonomies and the attraction into their orbit of the many small rural lordships created a sort of state structure.

With Giovanni Visconti, in the mid-14th century, the first great expansion of the family's possessions took place both with the victory over the Lords of Verona, the Scaligeri, and with the submission of Republic of Genoa and Bologna; thanks to these extensions, Gian Galeazzo Visconti managed to obtain in 1395 from the Holy Roman Emperor Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia the title of duke thus putting an end to the lordship and giving rise to the Duchy of Milan.