To Borgia

Illustrissimo Signor mio,

The breach at the north curtain of Piombino’s walls is wide enough for two culverins to speak at once if the embrasures are widened three palmi and the parapet lowered one. The gunners at Imola know the recoil will throw them against the merlons unless the platforms are braced with oak beams bolted to the masonry. I have marked the timber in the forest of Campiglia—thirty beams, each sixteen feet, squared and seasoned two years; they cost 45 ducati delivered to the docks.

The artillery must fire enfilade along the ditch. Place the first piece at the corner of the old watchtower where the stone is soundest; the second sixty passi toward the gate where the wall leans inward. The third, if you have it, behind the bastion at the southwest where the ground rises—it will command the road from Portoferraio even if the French hold the heights.

The powder is wet from the last rain. Dry it in canvas tents over braziers of slow-burning oak; do not let the flames touch the grain. The master atinerario in Siena says the serpentine is best for the task—faster priming, less smoke to blind the crews.

I have sent the diagram folded inside this letter. The angles are marked in red where the shot will graze the glacis without striking our own men on the counter-scarp.

The work must be done before the feast of San Martino or the rains will return and the ditches fill beyond repair.

Your servant,

L. v. V.