After the most recent events, the pope attempted to stop the conflict between the two, but they would not be dissuaded from their decades-long hostility.
Venice also approached the Crown of Aragon (the union of Aragon, Barcelona, Provence, and others by a marriage that produced Alfonso II of Aragon in 1157). Aragon had fought with Genoa over Sardinia, and the current ruler of the Crown of Aragon, Peter IV of Aragon, was happy to aid Venice.
The other surprising ally the Venetians found was the Byzantine Empire. Despite the antipathy toward Venice for their actions during the Fourth Crusade, Genoa's conquest of Chios angered Constantinople. Genoa tried to dissuade the Aragon's and the Byzantines from trusting Venice, to no avail.
Genoa saw the odds against them growing, and so they made some bold moves. Existing taxes were diverted to the war effort. A loan of 300,000 lira was forced out of wealthy banks with a promise of substantial returns. All this went to the construction of a larger fleet. The Genoese in the port of Pera across from Constantinople requested aid from their Muslim neighbor, the Ottoman sultan Orhan Ghazi.
In July 1351, a fleet of 60 ships, each holding 180 men, sailed from Genoa. They first attacked a Venetian ally in the Aegean, the Duchy of the Archipelago, capturing its duke and plundering Naxos. The fleet, under the command of admiral Paganino Doria, failed to find the main Venetian or Aragonese fleet to engage them in battle. He sailed to Pera where there was a Venetian blockade. When the Genoese approached, Venice sank their ships to prevent capture and fled.
There were battles all over the Mediterranean and Aegean, with no side gaining a clear upper hand. Finally, late in the day on 13 February of 1352, with only two hours of light, the fleets were in the same place: southeast of the Bosporus. The Genoese fleet had to face the combined Venetian, Aragonese, and Byzantine fleets.
The Battle of the Bosporus was chaotic, especially since they fought past sundown. Both sides lost many ships and men, and only the withdrawal of the Aragonese and Venetians allowed the Genoese to claim a Pyrrhic victory. Both sides spent weeks nursing their wounds. The Genoese anchored on Orhan's side of the Bosporus. When he offered to continue the battle on 3 March, the other side declined. The Aragonese and Venetian fleets departed, leaving the Byzantines to accept the fact that they would have to live with the Genoese as neighbors.
There was more fighting over Sardinia following all this, but that was between Genoa and Aragon. Twenty years later was the final conflict of the wars between Venice and Genoa, in which Genoa decided to invade Venice itself. See you tomorrow.
