Torchitorio V of Cagliari

Who was Torchitorio V of Cagliari?

Torchitorio V, born John and known as Chiano or Chianni, was the Giudice of Cagliari from 1250 to his death. His reign was brief but transformative in the history of Sardinia.

He may have been the son of his predecessor William II. All that is certain about his family is that he was himself a Massa and that his mother was a Serra. His birthplace and date are unknown and he had no wife or children. The date of his succession is also presumptive, as there is a silence in the sources between the last mention of William II and the first of Torchitorio V.

When he first appeared as Judge in 1254, he was ruling in name only; the real power in Cagliari was in the hands of the families of the Gherardeschi, Visconti, and Capraia. Chiano did homage to the Republic of Pisa for Cagliari. In 1254, he took over the palace in Cagliari, though probably not by force. On 23 September, he drew up a will, declaring his heirs to be his cousins William III and Rinaldo Cepolla.

Frustrated by the increasing interference of Pisa in his giudicato, Chiano cautiously turned to the Republic of Genoa for allies. In February 1256, he sent two envoys to Genoa to sign a pact on 20 April. On 25 May, Chiano affirmed it in the cathedral chapel of his castle in the presence of Malocello and Percivalle Doria. By the terms of the treaty, both allies owed the other military assistance in all their wars. Chiano became a Genoese citizen and rendered homage to the two representatives of the Republic. Cagliari granted Genoa the tax-free export of salt. All Cagliaritan castles were to be shared between the alliance, but in reality Genoa controlled them. Chiano was left with only a house in Cagliari, but he was offered a palace in Genoa and the hand in marriage of daughter of Malocello's family, which he was constrained by the treaty to accept. Meanwhile, Ogerio Scoto and Giovanni Pontano were sent to Cagliari as podestà and castellan respectively. Chiano then expelled the Pisans from the Castel di Castro and granted it to the Genoese.