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The
deplorable conditions of the Duchy of Milano at the end of the 1300s made it impossible
to control local tyranny and fighting among opposing factions and the town of Cannobio
at the time was divided between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.
On two small islands just off the coast of Cannero there were once two castles,
known as the "Malpaga Castles" built between 1200 and 1300, where
the five Mazzardi brothers, who were originally from Ronco, lived.  Taking
advantage of the local political situation, the "Mazzarditi", this family
of plunderers, seized the Palazzo of the Comunale Magistrates with the help of
the Rusca family of Como one night at the end of 1403 and killed the Guelphs who
were posted there to defend it, most of whom were members of the Mandelli family.
The Mazzarditi then lay waste the nearby shores for a number of years until the
election of Filippo Maria Visconti as the new Duke of Milan. Beseeched by the
local population he sent the condottiere Giovanni Lonati  with 500 men to defeat the
Mazzarditi. The castle at Traffiume, which was in their possession, was immediately
destroyed as was the town hall; then the siege of the Malpaga Castles began and in 1414,
completely surrounded and exhausted by lack of provisions, the marauders finally
surrendered. In 1441 the islands passed into the hands of the Borromeo, conceded by
Duke Filippo Maria to Count Vitiliano I the son of Filippo I Borromeo and Franceschina
Visconti. In 1519 Count Ludovico Borromeo had a fortified stronghold built over the ruins
and called it the "Vitaliana", in honour of their Padovan ancestor and founder of
the family. After Ludovico's death the fortress was slowly abandoned and thus began its
inevitable decline into ruin.
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