Counts of Lavagna, Counts of Lavagna

The counts of Lavagna are the old comital kindred of the eastern Riviera behind Chiavari: the Fieschi and related lineages.

Frederick I invested them in 1161 with a territory running from the Riviera to the Parma Apennines over the Cento Croci pass. Their seat is San Salvatore di Cogorno above the Entella, and they hold the valleys behind Lavagna and Chiavari (the Graveglia, the Sturla, the Fontanabuona). Genoa walled Chiavari against them and the Malaspina in 1167; on 23 November 1166 the Genoese consuls gave the counts a yearly rent and a house in the city, and on 13 March 1174 Rufino and his sons Ugo and Guirardo swore peace with Genoa and got back their fief.

Ugo's brother Opizzo has been bishop of Parma since 1195. Italian Wikipedia says their jurisdictional independence from Genoa lasted until 1198: on 1 January 1200 they are newly bound to the commune, keep their castles and tolls (the toll of the Entella bridge stayed theirs until the 15th century), and are rising in Genoa itself. The Doria are their strongest rivals.

Who he is

Name: Ugo Fieschi (Ugo Fliscus, the first to use the surname de Flesco), head of the Fieschi line, with his lay brothers Tedisio and Guirardo; the other comital lineages' heads are not pinned
Title: Counts of Lavagna (comites Lavanie), a group of related lineages of which the Fieschi are the chief
Since: after his father Rufino (active 1161-1174) [date not pinned]
Born: not pinned (he swore with his father in 1174)
Family: Fieschi; his brother Opizzo (Obizzo) is bishop of Parma (1195-1224), his brothers Alberto and Ibletto are clerics; by tradition he married a daughter of the Genoese noble Amico Grillo; at least five sons (Sinibaldo, the future Innocent IV, born at Lavagna no later than 1190; Rubaldo; Rufino; Tedisio) and three daughters
Confidence: medium

Enciclopedia dei Papi (Innocenzo IV): Ugo died after 1201 and before 2 March 1214; Italian Wikipedia (Lavagna) for the end of their independence in 1198.

Overlord

The commune of Genoa since 1198; the archbishop of Genoa for older rights

What it holds

San Salvatore and Cogorno (the family seat)
Lavagna (a borgo with a commune of its own, administered within limits by the Fieschi)
The Val Graveglia (Ne), the Val Sturla (Mezzanego, Borzonasca), the lower Fontanabuona (Carasco, San Colombano, Cicagna) [castle by castle not pinned]
The toll of the Entella crossing

How it was acquired

Comital rights of the Carolingian county of Lavagna, later held under the bishops of Genoa; Frederick I's investiture of 1161 (confirmed by Frederick II in 1227); independence from Genoa ended in 1198.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the Doria, Genoa's Chiavari, the Malaspina. Kin: Bishop Opizzo of Parma, which ties the family to Parma across the Cento Croci pass.

How things stand that morning

Sworn to Genoa since 1198, holding their valleys and castles.

Wealth

Tolls on the Entella and the coast road; rents of the Levante valleys; slate (lavagna) quarries [not pinned for 1200].

Military

Castles in their valleys; vassals.

Threats

Genoa's officers in Chiavari
the Doria

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

1203Genoa organises the Levante into podesterie; the Fieschi object to Lavagna being placed under Rapallo's podestà.Depends on: Genoa's reorganisation of its districts. Stopped by: A Fieschi revolt.
1210Ugo Fieschi rebuilds the Entella bridge (Ponte della Maddalena) in stone.Depends on: Peace. Stopped by: Nothing likely.

Places of note

San Salvatore di Cogorno: Fieschi seat
Lavagna: Borgo of the counts

Where the sources disagree

Italian Wikipedia (Fieschi) gives Sinibaldo's birth as 1195; the Enciclopedia dei Papi says no later than 1190. We follow the Enciclopedia dei Papi.

Evidence: The Fieschi line is well attested (Enciclopedia dei Papi); the 1198 submission is reported by Italian Wikipedia without the document; the other comital lineages' heads that winter are not pinned.

On the map: The extent is the later Fieschi heartland; their holdings castle by castle in 1200 are not pinned.

Primary sources for Genoa

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

Annals of Genoa, by Caffaro and his continuators, with Ogerio Pane for 1197 to 1219, Ogerio Pane and the other official annalists of Genoa (year by year under the commune's authority; the 1197 to 1219 section by Ogerio Pane). The official record of the commune. Read online
Annals of Pisa, by Bernardo Maragone, with continuation, Bernardo Maragone (1160s to 1175, continued to 1192). Pisa's official annals stop in 1175 and their continuation in 1192, so there is no Pisan narrative for 1200 itself. Read online
The register of San Pietro di Silki (11th to 13th centuries). A monastic register of lands, serfs, gifts and lawsuits in the giudicato of Torres (Logudoro), written in the vernacular.
The Registers of Pope Innocent III for 1199 to 1201, Innocent III and the papal chancery (22 February 1199 to 21 February 1201). The pope's outgoing letters for the year, in his chancery's own copy, touching nearly every realm in the atlas. Read online
Greek Acts and Documents of the Middle Ages, Sacred and Secular (documents of the 9th to 15th centuries, edited by F. Miklosich and J. Muller, 6 vols (Vienna, 1860 to 1890)). Volume 3 (Acta et diplomata res Graecas Italasque illustrantia, 1865) prints the imperial chrysobulls to Venice, including Alexios III's of November 1198 with its list of the provinces and towns of the Empire where Venetians traded, the best single picture of the imperial provinces as they stood on 1 January 1200, together with the Pisan and Genoese privileges. Read online

Sources and studies

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.