Images above: Titian's portraits of Francesco Maria della Rovere, duke of Urbino, and his wife Eleonora Gonzaga (now in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence)

Italian cities were often largely autonomous and governed by internal oligarchies.

- Even under the Carolingians, Italian cities had substantial independence

In the 10th and 11th centuries, after the dissolution of the Carolingian kingdom of Italy, the wealthiest families in some cities overthrew ruling bishops or counts. Citizens (higher ranking men in the town) swore mutual oaths of loyalty and protection and some communes had elected officials to their governments.

However, by the later Middle Ages, the high offices in most Italian cities had come to be controlled and occupied by a few powerful families and their allies:

The Medici in Florence
The Visconti and Sforza dukes of Milan,
The Gonzaga marquises of Mantua

By the end of the fifteenth century, only Venice had a durably republican constitution (and Venice was highly oligarchic).

At the same time, some Italian cities came to dominate others. Venice established an empire around the Adriatic Sea and the eastern Mediterranean. Florence dominated Pisa and used it as a port. Urban governments also hired mercenaries (condottieri) to fight each other and the papal states.

For more on the Medici, see: