With Gianquirico Sanvitale, Obizzo da Enzola and Paolo Aldighieri, he arranged Giberto's ouster in July 1316.
In June 1325, the papal legate Cardinal Bertrand du Pouget appointed him capitaneus Ecclesiae, captain of the Church, with an income of 30 florins per diem.
On 30 September, Cardinal Bertrand asserted papal authority in Parma and imposed himself as signore in accordance with the bull Si fratrum.
[2] In the summer of 1328, with King Louis IV of Germany in Italy to receive the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, Rolando forced the papal government out of Parma and allied himself with the Cangrande della Scala.
[3] In October he strengthened his alliance with the Scaligers by marrying his five-year-old daughter Maddalucia to Cangrande's illegitimate son Francesco (or Franceschino).
Playing the part of a signore, he added a loggia to his house in the district of San Giovanni, where he prominently displayed his arms, and went about in public only with a large bodyguard.
[1] There was also a financial crisis in Parma in 1334, forcing Rolando to convoke the council of eight wise men with which he theoretically shared power.
This also failed and on 15 June 1335 Parma dispatched two envoys (one chosen by the general council and another by Rolando) to submit the city to the Scaligers.
[1] On 21 June, Alberto II della Scala arrived in the city to fanfare, marking "the end of the commune ideal in Parma".
When Venice allied with Florence in a war against the Scaligers, Rolando joined the Florentine army and in July 1336 took part in the siege of Lucca, which was defended by Azzo da Correggio.
[1] In February 1338, Venice rejected Louis IV's peace proposal and sent an army under Rolando and Guecello Tempesta to forage in Scaliger territory.
Crossing the Adige at Albaredo, they harried the land as far as Vicenza and brought back to Venice numerous captives and enormous booty of livestock, grain, hay and wine.
[7] A letter of Pope Benedict XII to the nuncio Bernardo del Lago dated October 1338 indicates that Rolando was accused of seizing assets belonging to the diocese of Vicenza during the war.
In 1344, according to Guglielmo Cortusi, he traveled with Enrico da Lozzo (his son-in-law since 1338) on a mission to invite Count William II of Hainaut to visit the court of Padua.