Wednesday War Stories ~ Battle of Fornovo 6 July 1495

Zachary Grant, 9 July 2025

This marks the beginning, or nearly the beginning, of the Italian Wars from 1494-1559. Regular Armchair Dragoons forum contributor, besilarius, provided a very good summary of the Italian Wars which I think you’ll find interesting. I also recommend you watch Pike & Shot’s 12 minute video about the battle of Fornovo to get a detailed understanding of how this battle came to be fought. If you decide to watch the video later, here is a brief summary of the background: After successfully capturing Naples, King Charles VIII is attempting to return to France when he is met by the League of Venice’s army at Fornovo, which intends to defeat the French king and his army.

most images click to enlarge

The Battle

King Charles VIII commanded a French force of approximately 10,000 soldiers, which he split up into three groups: the vanguard, the main battlegroup and the rearguard. The vanguard had heavily armored men-at-arms, Swiss pikemen, all the French artillery, and some foot archers (Santosuosso).

Swiss mercenaries traversing the Alps. Illustration from the Lucerne Chronicle of 1513. Source: Wikimedia Commons

The main battlegroup had horsemen, a small group of Scottish archers, and mounted crossbowmen. The rearguard had most of the baggage wagons which were guarded by horsemen (Santosuosso).

The League of Venice had a much larger army, made up of between 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers. They were commanded by Francesco Gonzaga, who had the main command role, while his uncle, Rodolfo Gonzaga had control of the reserves. Francesco Gonzaga organized his army into four groups: an advance battlegroup, a main attack group, a support group, and finally a group to guard their camp (Santosuosso). The advance battlegroup had stradiots and mounted crossbowmen. The main attack group and the support group had a combination of men-at-arms, foot men and stradiots. If you are not familiar with stradiots, they were light cavalry from the Balkans, who used hit and run tactics which the French army had never encountered before this battle (Santosuosso).

Stradiot on a leaflet on the invasion of 1529. The German text at the top roughly translated reads: “Pictured is a Stradiot; they are special fighters. In the skirmish they ride impetuously. If the enemy flees, they pursue him violently; if he stands firm, they soon turn and shoot many arrows behind them. These people fight only in a hurry.”

On the day of the battle, Charles was marching his army on the eastern side of the Taro River when he encountered the Italian army. He moved his army to the western side of the Taro to avoid battle and to continue his way to France. Due to a heavy rainfall the night before, the Taro River was becoming difficult to ford; however, the French army successfully made their way across it (Santosuosso). Upon realizing what was happening, Francesco Gonzaga attempted to stop the French with a flank attack; however, at this point, attacking across the Taro River was extremely difficult due to the flooding and the slippery terrain around the river banks (Santosuosso).

The start of the battle of Fornovo, after the French crossed to the western side of the Taro River, as depicted in Wargame Design Studio’s Renaissance: Musket and Pike (2025). In this version of the battle, the Italians have not yet crossed the Taro River. You can see the exit area for the French army at the northern edge of the map along the road. This version of the battle includes the baggage train at the rear of the French force.

The French fought back, using their artillery and men-at-arms to repulse the Italian attack and then, after fierce fighting, rout the Italians from the battlefield. The French may have won the battle; however, they suffered a setback too. Some of the Italian stradiots were able to successfully attack the rearguard and capture most of the French baggage train. This was both good and bad for both armies. The French lost most of the spoils of war they had collected while trying to leave Italy; however, the Italian stradiots were so busy looting the baggage train that they did not participate in the battle in any meaningful way (Santosuosso).

The battle ended with the French only taking minor losses to their force and continuing their way to France. The Italians suffered major losses to their army, along with the death of Rodolfo Gonzaga, who was killed in combat with the French (Santosuosso).

Interested in gaming the battle? Try one of these games:

Fornovo 1495: Dawn of the Italian Wars, 1495-1525 (2016) – published by Compass Games. Designed by Brien J. Miller, this is a grand tactical area movement game that takes the flooding of the Taro river into consideration during game play. Here are three videos about this game:

Justegarde: Fornovo 1495 (Compass Games) – Intro
Hethwill Wargames: Entry log #1 – Order of Arms, Fornovo 1495
Hethwill Wargames: Entry log #2 – Order of Arms, Fornovo 1495

Pike and Shot: Campaigns – (last updated version 2016) published by Matrix Games. This is a tactical level, turn based game which covers warfare from 1494-1698. The game includes the Battle of Fornovo. Pike and Shot (2016) plays like a miniatures game and is not as complex as other games. The Fornovo scenario gives the Italian player the ability to select some of their forces before the battle starts, and then starts the battle with some of the Italian army already on the western side of the Taro River.

There are some screenshots below to give you an idea of what to expect

Renaissance: Musket and Pike – (latest updated version 2025) published by Wargame Design Studio. This is another turn based, tactical level game. This game includes 126 scenarios, some of which are variations on the same battle. There is one scenario for the Battle of Fornovo by Rich White. Although not as visually appealing as the Pike and Shot: Campaigns (2016), this game is more complex and is able to historically represent the battle well.

There are some screenshots (even further) below to give you an idea of what to expect

Pike & Shot Campaigns Screenshots

reminder you can click images to enlarge

Here is the Force Selection screen for the Italian player. The white circles on the map indicate what units can be added, or removed before the battle begins.

Here is the start of the game with the Italian stradiots already blocking the path of the French army as it tries to exit off the map.

Here is the middle part of the battlefield which shows part of the Italian force west of the Taro River and part of the Italian force east of the river. Pike and Shot (2016) doesn’t graphically show how large the Taro River really was during the battle.

Here is the French rearguard. There is no baggage train in Pike and Shot’s (2016) version of Fornovo.

Here is a close up of the French vanguard with the French artillery and the Swiss Pikemen leading the way back to France.

Here is a close up of some of the Italian army on the eastern side of the Taro River, which is classified as a “Large Stream”.

Renaissance: Musket and Pike Screenshots

you can click these images to enlarge, too!

Here is a close up of the middle section of the map showing the French artillery, the Swiss Pikemen and the Scottish archers. For the Italians, the Fanti Veneziani and the Stradiot are labeled. Graphically, the Taro River might only run along the hex sides down the middle of the map; however, to accurately depict the size of the Taro River and the difficult terrain caused by the flooding, there are generally 5-6 hexes worth of marsh terrain to cross, which considerably slows down the Italian attack.

Here is a 3d level view of the same section as shown above. You can see the artillery is limbered as it travels along the road. In the lower left hand corner, you can see the beginning of the baggage train.

Here is the closest 3d view the game offers. I like the colorful patterns in the Italian units as well as the different flags representing the various nationalities in the French army.

Sources

Santosuosso, A. (1994). Anatomy of defeat in renaissance Italy: The battle of Fornovo in 1495. The International History Review, 16 (2), 221-250.

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