Alexander provided for his son's retinue with regal extravagance.
It happened one day that a train of mules laden with silks and cloth of gold on the way to Caesar in Rome was plundered by the people of Cardinal Farnese and of his cousin Pier Paolo in the forest of Bolsena, whereupon the Pope addressed some vigorous communications to the cardinal, in whose territory, he stated, the robbery had been committed.[61] In the service of the Farnese were numerous Corsicans, some as mercenaries and bullies, some as field laborers, and these people, who were universally feared, probably were the guilty ones, for it is difficult to believe that Cardinal Alessandro would have undertaken such a venture on his own account.

It seems, however, that the relations of the Borgias and the Farnese were somewhat strained during this period.
The cardinal spent most of his time on his family estates, and at this juncture little was heard of his sister Giulia.

It is not even known whether or not she was living in Rome and continuing her relations with the Pope, although, from subsequent revelations, it appears that she was.

April 2, 1499, we find the cardinal and his sister again in Rome, where a nuptial contract was concluded in the Farnese palace between Laura Orsini, Giulia's seven-year-old daughter, and Federico Farnese, the twelve-year-old son of the deceased condottiere Raimondo Farnese, a nephew of Pier Paolo.

Laura's putative father, Orsino Orsini, was present at the ceremony.[62] It was probably Adriana and Giulia who were endeavoring to bring about a reconciliation between the house of Orsini and the Borgias.