Swords were drawn and blood flowed in the streets, until the governor was constrained to summon Ercole Bentivogli and his horse from Forli to quell the rioting.

The direct outcome of this was that--the Ghibellines predominating in council--Cesena sent an embassy to Rome to beg his Holiness to give the lordship of the fief to the Duke of Valentinois.

To this the Pope acceded, and on August 2 Cesare was duly appointed Lord Vicar of Cesena.

He celebrated his investiture by remitting a portion of the taxes, abolishing altogether the duty on flour, and by bringing about a peace between the two prevailing factions.
By the end of September Cesare's preparations for the resumption of the campaign were completed, and early in October (his army fortified in spirit by the Pope's blessing) he set out, and made his first halt at Nepi.

Lucrezia was there, with her Court and her child Roderigo, having withdrawn to this her castle to mourn her dead husband Alfonso; and there she abode until recalled to Rome by her father some two months later.
Thence Cesare pushed on, as swiftly as the foul weather would allow him, by way of Viterbo, Assisi, and Nocera to cross the Apennines at Gualdo.
Here he paused to demand the release of certain prisoners in the hill fortress of Fossate, and to be answered by a refusal.