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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.

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3 - Italian Cities in the Later Middle Ages, c.1100–1400

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3 - Italian Cities in the Later Middle Ages, c.1100–1400

Summary