Italy

This chapter examines the development of other Italian communes in order to elucidate what city leaders thought they were doing when they moved into the new communal world. Emphasis is given to a range of urban experiences in fifteen or so other cities, grouped regionally—Piemonte; Lombardy and Emilia; Romagna and the Veneto; and Tuscany. The chapter first considers Genoa and Asti, two cities that showed active early consuls, before turning to the communes of Lombardy and Emilia, Romagna and the Veneto, and Tuscany. It shows that the chronological pacing of communal development in Italy follows some recognizable geographical lines, that the degree to which communes were contested varied, and that the earliest documented communes had assemblies before they developed a consular leadership in any organized way. The chapter also explores the roles of families as communal leaders and how the rule of consuls became more institutionalized.