A courier arrived, one night, bringing an account of the entire destruction of the Genoese fleet, in a naval combat with that of the Venetians, which took place on the 19th of August, 1353, near the island of Sardinia.

The letters which the poet had written, in order to conciliate those two republics, had proved as useless as the pacificatory efforts of Clement VI.

and his successor, Innocent.
Petrarch, who had constantly predicted the eventual success of Genoa, could hardly believe his senses, when he heard of the Genoese being defeated at sea.

He wrote a letter of lamentation and astonishment on the subject to his friend Guido Settimo.

He saw, as it were, one of the eyes of his country destroying the other.