Sign-In
Cart
The Communes of Italy: Regional Power in the High Middle Ages
Paperback
Medieval & Renaissance HistoryItalian History
Publisher: Colloquium Verlag
Published: Sep 27 2025
Pages: 324
Weight: 0.83
Height: 0.68 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.50
Language: English
In the dramatic landscape of medieval Europe, a remarkable political experiment unfolded across the cities of northern and central Italy. As the authority of emperors and popes wavered, urban communities seized an unprecedented opportunity to govern themselves, creating the vibrant, ambitious, and fiercely independent city-republics we now call the Italian communes.
This book unveils the extraordinary story of these medieval urban republics, where citizens elected their own leaders, crafted sophisticated legal codes, built magnificent cathedrals and civic palaces, developed revolutionary banking systems, and created artistic and literary traditions that would inspire the Renaissance. From powerful Milan to wealthy Florence, from maritime Venice to ambitious Siena, these self-governing cities developed political, economic, and cultural innovations that transformed Europe and established patterns of civic life still visible in Italian cities today.
The story ranges across vivid settings: crowded urban neighborhoods where tower-dwelling nobles jostled with prosperous merchants; busy marketplaces where goods from across the Mediterranean were traded; council chambers where competing factions debated policy; and cathedral squares where civic identity was celebrated in elaborate ceremonies. Readers will encounter unforgettable characters-ambitious podestàs maintaining order, guild masters regulating production, bankers financing kings, artists glorifying civic values, and ordinary citizens navigating the opportunities and challenges of this dynamic urban world.
The Communes of Italy offers both a compelling narrative of a fascinating historical period and fresh insight into the origins of modern political ideas and urban cultures. It invites readers to discover a world where citizens dared to imagine new forms of governance, created unprecedented prosperity through their own initiative, and established enduring cultural achievements that continue to captivate us today.
Also from
Ford, William
A Description of the Scenery in the Lake District: Intended As a Guide to Strangers
Ford, William
Hardcover
Baja, The Freebooter, Vivid Pictures Of Life In Hindostan, By William St. Clair
Ford, William
Paperback
Albert the Great's Natural Philosophy and the Medieval Integration of Aristotle
Ford, William
Paperback
Also in
Italian History
A Bite-Sized History of Italy: Gastronomic Tales of the Roman Empire, Renaissance, and Republic
Callegari, Danielle
Hardcover
The Winter Army: The World War II Odyssey of the 10th Mountain Division, America's Elite Alpine Warriors
Isserman, Maurice
Paperback
The Tigress of Forli: Renaissance Italy's Most Courageous and Notorious Countess, Caterina Riario Sforza De' Medici
Lev, Elizabeth
Paperback
The Great Siege, Malta 1565: Clash of Cultures: Christian Knights Defend Western Civilization Against the Moslem Tide
Bradford, Ernle
Paperback
It Happened in Italy: Untold Stories of How the People of Italy Defied the Horrors of the Holocaust
Bettina, Elizabeth
Paperback
Life in Ancient Rome: Absorbing Social History--A Vivid Portrait of a Magnificent Age
Cowell, F. R.
Paperback
This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World
Di Robilant, Andrea
Paperback
Road to Valor: A True Story of WWII Italy, the Nazis, and the Cyclist Who Inspired a Nation
McConnon, Aili
McConnon, Andres
Paperback
Terroni: All That Has Been Done to Ensure That the Italians of the South Became "Southerners"
Aprile, Pino
Paperback
In the Abruzzi: Travels in Southern Italy at the Turn of the 20th Century; The History, Culture and Folklore
MacDonnell, Anne
Paperback
Days of Memory: Listening to Jewish Italians who lived through Fascism and the Holocaust
Monachina, Judith
Paperback
Giorgia's Vision: Giorgia Meloni in Conversation with Alessandro Sallusti
Sallusti, Alessandro
Meloni, Giorgia
Hardcover
My Cousin the Saint: A Story of Love, Miracles, and an Italian Family Reunited
Catanoso, Justin
Paperback
Fascist Spectacle: The Aesthetics of Power in Mussolini's Italy Volume 28
Falasca-Zamponi, Simonetta
Paperback
The Pope and the Heretic: The True Story of Giordano Bruno, the Man Who Dared to Defy the Roman Inquisition
White, Michael
Paperback
Naples 1925: Adorno, Benjamin, and the Summer That Made Critical Theory
Mittelmeier, Martin
Paperback
Rise and Fight: Speeches from the Italian Social Republic, and the Political Testament
Mussolini, Benito
Paperback
Seeking Sicily: A Cultural Journey Through Myth and Reality in the Heart of the Mediterranean
Keahey, John
Hardcover
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volumes 1 to 3 (of Six)(Box Set): Introduction by Hugh Trevor-Roper
Gibbon, Edward
Hardcover
Aqua Tofana: Poison, Patriarchy, and the Women Who Chose Murder in Renaissance Italy
Lynn, Kathleen
Paperback
The Italian Way of War: A Short History from Garibaldi to Operation Husky 1866-1943
LaMonica, Jeffrey
Hardcover
Learn Italian: A beginner's guide to learning basic Italian fast, including useful common words and phrases!
Alfaro, Adrian
Paperback
A Brief History of Italy: Tracing the Renaissance, Unification, and the Lively Evolution of Art and Culture
Haynes, Dominic
Paperback
The Brenner Assignment: The Untold Story of the Most Daring Spy Mission of World War II
O'Donnell, Patrick K.
Paperback
The Judge and the Historian: Marginal Notes on a Late-Twentieth-Century Miscarriage of Justice
Ginzburg, Carlo
Paperback
Murder in Matera: A True Story of Passion, Family, and Forgiveness in Southern Italy
Stapinski, Helene
Paperback
Excellent Cadavers: The Mafia and the Death of the First Italian Republic
Stille, Alexander
Paperback
The Medicis and Borgias: A Captivating Guide to the History of the Medici Family and House of Borgia
History, Captivating
Hardcover
Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy: A Primer in the Social History of Pictorial Style
Baxandall, Michael
Paperback
Churchill's Hellraisers: The Thrilling Secret Ww2 Mission to Storm a Forbidden Nazi Fortress
Lewis, Damien
Paperback
Naples 1925: Adorno, Benjamin, and the Summer That Made Critical Theory
Mittelmeier, Martin
Hardcover
A Bold and Dangerous Family: The Remarkable Story of an Italian Mother, Her Two Sons, and Their Fight Against Fascism
Moorehead, Caroline
Paperback
Jews and the Italian Left: Socialism, Zionism, and Antisemitism from 1892 to 1992
Tarquini, Alessandra
Hardcover
This Earthly Globe: A Venetian Geographer and the Quest to Map the World
Di Robilant, Andrea
Hardcover
The Beauty and the Terror: The Italian Renaissance and the Rise of the West
Fletcher, Catherine
Hardcover
The Pope and Mussolini: The Secret History of Pius XI and the Rise of Fascism in Europe
Kertzer, David I.
Paperback
The Artist, the Philosopher, and the Warrior: Da Vinci, Machiavelli, and Borgia and the World They Shaped
Strathern, Paul
Paperback
The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire: A Modern Abridgment by Moses Hadas
Gibbon, Edward
Paperback
Prisoner of the Vatican: The Popes, the Kings, and Garibaldi's Rebels in the Struggle to Rule Modern Italy
Kertzer, David I.
Paperback
Across Sicily with Garibaldi's Thousand: An Adventure in Landscape and Italian Memory
Parks, Tim
Hardcover
The Italian Invasion of Ethiopia: A Captivating Guide to Mussolini's War in Abyssinia
History, Captivating
Hardcover
The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance
King, Ross
Hardcover
The Artist and the Eternal City: Bernini, Pope Alexander VII, and the Making of Rome
Grossman, Loyd
Hardcover
The Great Siege of Malta: The Epic Battle Between the Ottoman Empire and the Knights of St. John
Allen, Bruce Ware
Paperback
1434: The Year a Magnificent Chinese Fleet Sailed to Italy and Ignited the Renaissance
Menzies, Gavin
Paperback
Old Calabria: Travels Through Historic Rural Italy at the Turn of the 20th Century
Douglas, Norman
Paperback
The Ugly Renaissance: Sex, Greed, Violence and Depravity in an Age of Beauty
Lee, Alexander
Paperback
The WWII Bombing of Bari, Italy: The Classified Disaster and Coverup That Launched the Discovery of Chemotherapy
Depaul Lupiano, Vincent
Paperback
The Italian Tradition of Equestrian Art: A Survey of the Treatises on Horsemanship from the Renaissance and the Centuries Following
Tomassini, Giovanni Battista
Paperback
Sicily's Rebellion against King Charles: The Story of the Sicilian Vespers by John of Procida
Mendola, Louis A.
Paperback
Italo-Ottoman Relations in the Age of the Congress of Paris: Mirroring the 'Other', 1856-1871
Ennas, Giorgio
Hardcover