Ostrogothic power in Italy has been eliminated,…

Ostrogothic power in Italy has been eliminated, and most of the remaining Ostrogoths go back north and resettle in south Austria.

However, two Frankish-Alemanni dukes; the brothers Lothair and Buccelin (or Leutharis and Butilinus), cross the Alps from Germany with a force of seventy-five thousand men, mostly Frankish infantry.

In the Po Valley, they win an easy victory over a much smaller imperial force at Parma, and are joined by remnants of the Gothic armies, bringing the total strength of the invaders to about ninety thousand men.

Narses, gathering his forces as quickly as possible, marches north to harass the Franks, but is not strong enough to engage them in battle.