Nevertheless, in all but a few towns, the popolo proved unable to solve the problem of public order, and in these circumstances “the peaceful and tranquil state” of the cities came instead to be established by signori, who were powerful party leaders. From the second half of the 13th century, having triumphed over, destroyed, or permanently exiled their opponents, these men began to give institutional form to their power and to pass it on to their sons as a hereditary right. What they offered in return to their subject citizens was the hope of eliminating anarchic civil violence by the exercise of superior force. It was in this way that, in the course of the 14th century, signoria, or permanent legal rule by single families, began. From the communes the signori obtained their titles, the authority to control the communes “according to their own will,” and the right to pass on this grant to their chosen successors. With the passage of time, these usurped legislative trappings lent the appearance of legitimacy to their rule. By the end of the 14th century the signori normally sought some legitimization of their power by obtaining authorization from the emperor or pope to act as “vicars” over the territories that their families had come to rule. As such, during the 15th century these hereditary lordships—or, in effect, principalities—seemed to constitute the natural order in large areas of northern Italy.
So, in the Veneto, Verona fell to the della Scala (or Scaligeri) family in the 1260s, as did Vicenza from 1312, while Padua was subject to the Carrara (or Carraresi) family from 1318. In Lombardy the Bonacolsi and then, from 1328, the Gonzaga family came to be sole rulers of Mantua, while the Visconti achieved the signoria of Milan from 1311. During the next 35 years the Visconti extended their dominion by gaining power over Cremona (1334), Pavia, Lodi, Bergamo (1332), Como (1335), Piacenza (1337), Tortona, and Parma (1346). In Emilia the Este (Estense) family, already established at Ferrara from 1264, extended their power to Modena (1288) and Reggio (1290). In the northern sector of the Papal States the towns of the Romagna and the Marche fell to signori between 1315 and 1342; when Cardinal Albornoz’s attempts at reconquest failed, the papacy granted most of its territories to vicars, including these signori. Thus, between about 1250 and 1350, northern and central Italy had undergone a profound transformation in constitutional forms, political life, and attitudes toward authority. The rule of a city-state by one man was no longer seen as a strange and temporary expedient but as a normal aspect of life. Under the new regimes the councils of the communes and popolo still remained, but their role was limited to minor administrative tasks or to formal approval of the political decisions of the signori. Essentially, all that remained of the old communal system was its administrative service, a core of skilled notaries who kept the machinery of government in operation. Meanwhile, in return for their absolute power, the signori restored or created harmony within the upper classes of the towns and reconciled the interests of the popolo and the nobility.
Nonetheless, the emergence of the signorie, however important, was only one element in the constitutional history of the northern and central Italian towns in the 14th century. It was a movement largely confined to the Veneto, Lombardy, Emilia, the Marche, and—subject to the suzerainty of regional princes—Piedmont. In most towns of Umbria and Lazio (Latium) the papacy was able to prevent their establishment. In Tuscany they were largely unsuccessful. Lucca fell to signori in the first half of the 14th century, notably with the rule of the remarkable Castruccio Castracani between 1316 and 1328, but the town experienced a strong revival of republican government from 1369 to 1392. Republican Florence underwent only brief interludes of signorial governance. Florence conquered several of its neighbours—Volterra, Prato, Pistoia, San Gimignano—before any signorie arose in them. In Liguria, Genoa was continually unstable because of the violent conflicts of its noble houses. Rather than submit itself to any one family, the town oscillated between communal government and a series of popolo-granted life dictatorships—of which the most memorable was that of Simone Boccanegra, future hero of an opera by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi. Two communes, Siena (at least in the 14th century) and Venice, rejected signorial government entirely in favour of republican institutions.
During the 14th century then, substantial parts of Italy remained outside the control of signori. Alongside the new principates there were some communal governments—including those of Venice and Florence, two of the most powerful cities in the peninsula, which both survived and developed into powerful territorial states with very strong republican traditions. These republics survived partly because it was much more difficult for signori to seize control over a patrician oligarchy of bankers and merchants than it was to dominate a society consisting of landowners, artisans, and rural workers. Societies with highly developed economies were much less amenable to princely control. In republics, an economy that would be menaced by internal disunity and a ruling class united at least in its pursuit of commercial advantage helped assure the preservation of public order and the repulsion of any individual or family seeking political domination. Venice in the 14th century
It was, in fact, in the 1290s and the hundred years that followed—broadly speaking, the same period in which the signorie were consolidating their position—that the two principal republics established and secured the essentials of their constitutions, which were to last (in the case of Florence) into the 16th and (in the case of Venice) even into the late 18th century. At the beginning of this period the dominion of Venice included the islands of the lagoon and the dogado, a thin strip of the mainland around the lagoon, along with an overseas empire consisting of most of the Dalmatian coast, the island of Corfu, various islands in the Aegean, the coasts of the Peloponnese, and Crete. The overseas territories were often valuable in themselves, and they served also as a series of staging areas for Venetian commerce. In the establishment of the city’s constitution, the key moment came in February 1297, when the Great Council, in which sovereignty resided, was expanded to take in more than 1,000 members. From that time forward, and in particular from the 1320s, admission to that body became more difficult, and from the 1390s it ceased altogether. What has been traditionally described as “the closing (serrata) of the Great Council”—that is, the creation of an oligarchic government dominated by a fixed hereditary caste—did not occur in 1297 but actually extended over some 100 years from that date.
Miracle of the True Cross at the Bridge of S. Lorenzo, oil painting by Gentile Bellini, 1500; in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice.SCALA/Art Resource, New York
From its members the Great Council elected the Senate, the Lesser Council, the Quarantia (judiciary), the Council of Ten, all the committees of government, and, by an extremely elaborate system of lot, the doge. The “Excellent Lord, by the Grace of God, Doge of Venice, Duke of Dalmatia and Croatia, the Most Serene Prince” enjoyed immense prestige and had an important role in the coordination of government. Yet, however powerful his personality, he was increasingly bound by his councils. In reaction against such control, the doge Marin Falier, from one of the greatest families of the city, conspired in April 1355 to overturn the sovereignty of the nobility. He paid for the attempt with his life. A century later (1457) the patriciate were to show their strength again when the Council of Ten deposed Francesco Foscari. The power of the doge diminished; henceforth, he could promote his own initiatives only by submitting them to the Great Council and the Senate.