It was a fortress of Castruccio Castracani, the birthplace of a great Pope.  Of Castruccio, that intolerant great man, I shall speak later, in Lucca, for that was the rose in his shield.  Here I wish only to remind the reader who wanders among the ruins of his great castle, that Castracani took Sarzana by force and held it against any; and perhaps to recall the words of Machiavelli, where he tells us that the capture of Sarzana was a feat of daring done to impress the Lucchesi with the splendour of their liberated tyrant.  For when the citizens had freed him from the prison of Uguccione della Faggiuola, who had seized the government of Lucca, Castruccio, finding himself accompanied by a great number of his friends, which encouraged him, and by the whole body of the people, which flattered his ambition, caused himself to be chosen Captain-General of all their forces for a twelvemonth; and resolving to perform some eminent action that might justify their choice, he undertook the reduction of several places which had revolted following the example of Uguccione.  Having for this purpose entered into strict alliance with the city of Pisa, she sent him supplies, and he marched with them to besiege Sarzana; but the place being very strong, before he could carry it, he was obliged to build a fortress as near it as he could.  This new fort in two months’ time rendered him master of the whole country, and is the same fort that at this day is called Sarzanella, repaired since and much enlarged by the Florentines.  Supported by the credit of so glorious an exploit, he reduced Massa, Carrara, and Lavenza very easily:  he seized likewise upon the whole country of Lunigiana ... so that, full of glory, he returned to Lucca, where the people thronged to meet him, and received him with all possible demonstrations of joy.

It is, however, rather as the home of Nicholas V, I think, that Sarzana appeals to us to-day, than as the stronghold of Castruccio.  The tyrant held so many places, as we shall see, his prowess is everywhere, but Tommaso Parentucelli is like to be forgotten, for his glory is not written in sword-cuts or in any violated city, but in the forgotten pages of the humanists, the beautiful life of Vespasiano da Bisticci.  And was not Nicholas V. the first of the Renaissance Popes, the librarian of Cosimo de’ Medici, the tutor of the sons of Rinaldo degli Albizzi and of Palla Strozzi?  Certainly his great glory was the care he had of learning and the arts:  he made Rome once more the capital of the world, he began the Vatican, and the basilica of S. Pietro, yet he was not content till he should have transformed the whole city into order and beauty.  In him the enthusiasm and impulse of the Renaissance are simple and full of freshness.  Finding Rome still the city of the Emperors and their superstition, he made it the city of man.  He was the friend of Alberti, the Patron of all men of learning and poets.  “Greece has not fallen,” said Filelfo, in remembering him, “but seems to have migrated to Italy, which of old was called Magna Graecia.”  Yet Tommaso Parentucelli[11] was sprung of poor parent and even though they may have been nobili as Manetti tells us, De nobili Parentucellorum progenie,[12] that certainly was of but little assistance to him in his youth.