Book contents
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- Acknowledgements
- Editors’ Introduction to the Series
- Additional material
- 1 Introduction: Urban Europe from the Middle Ages to 1850
- 2 Cities and Complex Settlements in Early Medieval Europe, c. 500–1150
- Part I Regions
- Part II Themes
- Index
- References
3 - Italian Cities in the Later Middle Ages, c.1100–1400
from Mediterranean Europe
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 January 2026
By
Book contents
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Maps
- Tables
- Contributors to Volume II
- Acknowledgements
- Editors’ Introduction to the Series
- Additional material
- 1 Introduction: Urban Europe from the Middle Ages to 1850
- 2 Cities and Complex Settlements in Early Medieval Europe, c. 500–1150
- Part I Regions
- Part II Themes
- Index
- References
Summary
For a long time, the cities of northern and central Italy were understood as belonging to a ‘communal’ sphere whose economic, social and political trajectory pointed towards modernity; southern Italian cities were part of a ‘monarchical’ sphere whose backwardness was said to continue to the present day. This chapter, however, approaches the history of the cities of medieval Italy from within the political spaces to which they belonged, especially those of the great monarchies that dominated the peninsula. If we avoid two preconceptions – that communes were a manifestation of statehood and that monarchies necessarily limited the autonomy of cities – the two spheres of the Italian cities appear much closer to urban experiences in the rest of Europe than has often been recognised.
Information
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- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge Urban History of Europe , pp. 77 - 102Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
References
Further Reading
Berengo, M., L’Europa delle città: Il volto della società urbana tra Medioevo ed età moderna (Torino, Einaudi, 1999).Google Scholar
Caciorgna, M. T., Carocci, S. and Zorzi, A. (eds), I comuni di Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur: Percorsi storiografici (Rome, Viella, 2014).Google Scholar
Crouzet-Pavan, É., Enfers et paradis: L’Italie de Dante et de Giotto (Paris, A. Michel, 2001).Google Scholar
Dean, T. (ed.), The Towns of Italy in the Later Middle Ages (Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrari, M., La ‘politica in figure’: Temi, funzioni, attori della comunicazione visiva nei Comuni lombardi (XII–XIV secolo) (Rome, Viella, 2022).Google Scholar
Franceschi, F. and Taddei, I., Le città italiane nel Medioevo. XII–XIV secolo (Bologna, Il Mulino, 2012).Google Scholar
Galasso, G. (ed.), Alle origini del dualismo italiano: Regno di Sicilia e Italia centro-settentrionale dagli Altavilla agli Angiò (1100–1350) (Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2014).Google Scholar
Ginatempo, M. and Sandri, L., L’Italia delle città: Il popolamento urbano tra Medioevo e Rinascimento (secoli XIII–XVI) (Florence, Le Lettere, 1990).Google Scholar
Hyde, J. K., Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: The Evolution of the Civil Life, 1000–1350 (London, Macmillan, 1973).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, Ph., The Italian City-State: From Commune to Signoria (Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larner, J., Italy in the Age of Dante and Petrarch, 1216–1380 (London, Longman, 1980).Google Scholar
Martines, L., Power and Imagination: City-States in Renaissance Italy (London, A. Lane, 1979).Google Scholar
Tanzini, L., A consiglio: La vita politica nell’Italia dei comuni (Rome, Laterza, 2014).Google Scholar
(ed.), Il comune medievale: Istituzioni e conflitti politici (secoli XII–XIV) (Bologna, CLUEB, 2022).Google Scholar
Vallerani, M. (ed.), Tecniche di potere nel tardo Medioevo: regimi comunali e signorie in Italia (Rome, Viella, 2010).Google Scholar
Zorzi, A. (ed.), Conflitti, paci e vendette nell’Italia comunale (Florence, Firenze University Press, 2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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