Battle of Serravalle (1544)

Battle of Serravalle

Date	2–4 June 1544
Location	Serravalle, Apennine Mountains (present-day San Marino)
Result	Decisive Imperial-Spanish victory

Belligerents

Commanders and leaders

The Battle of Serravalle took place on June 2–4, 1544, at Serravalle, in the Apennine Mountains, San Marino, between the Imperial-Spanish army commanded by Don Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, and a force of freshly raised Italian mercenaries in French service, led by Pietro Strozzi, member of the rich and famous Florentine family of the Strozzi, and Giovan Francesco Orsini, Count of Pitigliano, during the Italian War of 1542–1546.

Despite the collapse of the Imperial-Spanish army under Alfonso d'Avalos at the Battle of Ceresole (Spanish: Cerisoles), the battle proved to be of little strategic significance. At the insistence of Francis I of France, the French army resumed the Siege of Carignano, where Pirro Colonna held out for several weeks. Soon after the city's surrender, the impending invasion of France itself by the forces of the Emperor Charles and Henry VIII of England, forced Francis to recall much of his army from Piedmont, leaving the Count of Enghien without the troops he needed to take Milan.