Editing City-state (section)

===Italy===
{{Main|Italian city-states}}
{{See also|Medieval commune|Lombard League|Maritime republics|Signoria}}

[[File:Italy 1494.svg|thumb|right|Italy in 1494, after the [[Peace of Lodi]]]]

In [[Northern Italy|Northern]] and [[Central Italy]] during the medieval and Renaissance periods, city-states — with various amounts of associated land — became the standard form of polity. Some of them, despite being [[de facto]] independent states, were formally part of the [[Holy Roman Empire]]. The era of the Italian states, in particular from the 11th to the 15th centuries, featured remarkable economic development, trade, manufacture, and mercantile capitalism, together with increasing urbanization, with remarkable influence throughout much of the Mediterranean world and Europe as a whole. During this time, most of the Italian city-states were ruled by one person, such as the [[Signoria]] or by a dynasty, such as the [[House of Gonzaga]] and the [[House of Sforza]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Italy - Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy|access-date=2021-05-12|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|archive-date=25 February 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080225042403/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-27717/Italy|url-status=live}}</ref>

====Examples of Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance====

*[[Republic of Florence]], [[Duchy of Milan]], [[Duchy of Ferrara]],<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Haney
 | first1 = John
 | title = Cesare Borgia
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=R1MbAQAAMAAJ
 | series = World leaders past & present
 | location = New York
 | publisher = Chelsea House
 | date = 1987
 | page = 74
 | isbn = 9780877545958
 | access-date = 4 October 2020
 | quote = [...] the duchy of Ferrara — a small but strategically important city-state situated between Venice and the Romagna.
}}
</ref> [[History of San Marino|San Marino]], [[Duchy of Modena and Reggio]], [[Duchy of Urbino]], [[Duchy of Mantua]] and the [[Republic of Lucca]].

*The powerful [[maritime republics]]: [[Republic of Venice]], [[Republic of Genoa]], [[Republic of Amalfi]], [[Republic of Pisa]], [[Republic of Ancona]] and [[Duchy of Gaeta]].