 At the start of the Messina revolt in 1672, the viceroy dispatched 4,600 infantry and 1,200 cavalry to the "Presidi" and in May 1677 his successor sent 300 men to strengthen the garrison at Porto Longone.In 1693, the year of heaviest fighting during the Nine Years' War, Neapolitan troops intended for the Catalonian front were instead sent to the "Presidi" in response to a French fleet.In 1678, Grand Duke Cosimo III of Tuscany sought to take advantage of the Messina War to negotiate the purchase of the "Presidi", or at least the exchange of Orbetello for Portoferraio.