This article is about the early Italian city-states during the Italian Renaissance.

Italy in the 12th and 13th centuries was vastly different from Europe north of the Alps (feudal Europe). The Peninsula was a melange of political and cultural elements rather than a unified state.

Marc Bloch and Fernand Braudel have argued that geography determined the history of the region. Because an attack across the Alps was very difficult, German princelings could not exert sustained control over their Italian vassal states, and thus Italy was substantially freed of German political interference. No strong monarchies emerged as they did in the rest of Europe; instead there emerged the independent city-state.

Within the Italian peninsula there is great physical diversity. Italy is cut into numerous small regions by mountains, which could make inter-city communication very difficult. The Po plain, however, was an exception; it was the only large contiguous area, and most city states which fell to invasion were located there. Those that survived longest were in the more rugged regions, such as Florence.

There was a strong continuity of urban awareness in northern Italy which had virtually disappeared in the rest of Europe. Some cities and their urban institutions had survived in Italy since the Dark Ages. Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan towns which had existed within the Roman Empire. The republican institutions of Rome had also survived the Dark Ages. Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land, but by the 10th century, Venice had become a large trading metropolis.

While those Roman, urban, republican sensibilities persisted, there were many movements and changes afoot. Italy first felt the changes in Europe from the 11th to the 13th centuries. Typically there was:

• a rise in population―the population doubled in this period (the demographic explosion)
• an emergence of huge cities, like Venice, with had over 100,000 inhabitants by the 13th century
• the erection of churches
• substantial migration from country to city, the rate of urbanization reached 20%, the most urbanized society in the world at that time
• an agrarian revolution
• it is estimated that the per capita income of northern Italy nearly tripled from the 11th century to the 15th century

This was a highly mobile, demographically expanding society, fuelled by the rapidly expanding Renaissance commerce.

By the 13th century, northern and central Italy had become the most literate society in the world. Fifty per cent of the male population could read in the vernacular (an unprecendent rate since the decline of the Roman Empire), as could a small but significant proportion of women.

During the 11th century in northern Italy a new political and social structure emerged―the city-state or commune. The civic culture which arose from this urbs was remarkable. In most places where communes arose (e.g. Britain and Flanders) they were absorbed by the monarchical state as it emerged. Almost uniquely they survived in northern and central Italy to become independent city-states. The breakaway from their feudal overlords by these communes occurred in the late 12th century during the Investiture Controversy between Pope and Emperor.

By the late 12th century, a new and unique society emerged; rich, mobile, expanding, with a mixed aristocracy, interested in urban institutions and republican government. Many city-states housed a violent society based on family, confraternity and brotherhood.

By 1300, most of these republics had become princely states dominated by a gran maestro. The exceptions were Venice, Florence, Bologna, Lucca, and a few others, which remained republics in the face of an increasingly monarchic Italy and Europe. At the beginning of the Renaissance, there were many city states, including Milan, Venice, Florence, and Naples.

Milan

---

At the beginning of the 11th Century, Milan was having several civil outbreaks. The main conflics were between the Nobles and Plebeians. Therefore, a tripartite was formed, creating a compromise between the great nobles, lesser nobles, and plebeians, led by a podestà. There was also fighting between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, who supported the pope and emperor respectively. The ruling family of Milan, the Viscontis, suppored the Ghibellines, and the emperor acknowledged Ottone Visconti as the Archbishop. The Visconti House went on to peacefully conquer Pavia, Piacenza, Bergamo, Brescia, and Parma. They gained support from their citizens by treating them charitably. In 1354, power fell into the hands of brothers Galeazzo and Bernab Visconti. Originally they split the city in two to share the power, but rejoined in 1359 to defeat Pavia. Pavia then became Galeazzo's city, where be built a university. When he died in 1387, he left his land to his son, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. However, Bernab was a different child. He ruled under strict laws, was threatened excommunication, and became greedy after his brothers death. In 1385, when he attempted to take all the land back under one rule, Gian imprisoned him. Gian went on to be a powerful ruler, who expanded the empire arcoss northern Italy, gathering land as he went. The only northern city-state to avoid his conquest was Venice. He died from illness while trying to conquer Florence in 1402. His sons, Giovanni Maria Visconti and Filippo Maria Visconti split up the land, which then either became independent or was conquered by Venice. Giovanni became duke, but in 1412 was assassinated over political controversy. Filippo did not have any sons, ending the Visconti line. He died in 1447, when the people's gonvernment was established.

Filippo did have a daughter, who married Francesco Sforza. He later was hired to protect the city state with the creation of the people's government, but instead took over, creating the Sforza line. Francesco died in 1466, leaving the land to Galeazzo Maria Sforza. He was disliked because of his cruelty, and assassinated in 1476. His 7-year-old son, Gian Galeazzo Sforza, with Galeazzo Maria's brother, Ludovico Sforza(Ludovico the Moor), becoming the de facto ruler of Milan. Ludovico was very cultural, adding much to universities and architecture, but when Gian Galeazzo married Princess Isabella of Naples, Ludovico's persuasion of Gian came to an end. Isabella disliked the amount of power Ludovico had, and turned to her family in Naples for help. In return, Ludovico turned to Charles VIII of France, who could claim Naples through the House of Anjou.

Cities and towns in Italy