Between 1318 and 1320 Padua was under military attacks from Cangrande della Scala, lord of Verona and imperial vicar. It was the first direct confrontation between the two main powers of the Venetian plain. Regional supremacy was then up for grabs. The sieges were repeated several times with different intensity. This kind of military strategy broke the compactness of the Padua leadership group and triggered profound and dramatic changes in the institutional structure of the commune, paving the way to a first, thought partial rise to power of the Carrara family. However, the fractures between the hegemonic families were not repaired.
Keywords: Siege, Vicarship, lordship, Captain of the popolo, Political exile, Civil war.