Italy: 13th to the 15th century 
ABSTRACT 
This lecture looks at north Italy in the 13th century and the rise of the city sates, which competed in an intense mercantile environment. We see the rise of new building types such as the town hall, the duomo and the city piazza, as well as the emergence of the new idea of ‘the façade.’ I look in particular at Siena and move to Florence where Brunelleschi was commissioned to design the dome of cathedral of Florence, one of the great architectural and engineering feats of the age.

KEY PEOPLE
•	Filippo Brunelleschi (1377 – 1446)
•	Còsimo di Mèdici (1389 –1464) 
•	Leon Battista Alberti (1404  -1472)

KEY CONCEPTS
•	Feudal System
•	Palazzo Pubblico/Palazzo comunale
•	Duomo
•	Family Towers
•	Façade
•	Black Death
•	Renaissance
•	Drum 
•	Oculus
•	Herringbone pattern
•	Lantern
•	Colonnade 
•	Pilaster
•	Dentils
•	Egg and Dart molding
•	Rosettes
•	Entablature
•	Pilaster
•	Renaissance

KEY PLACES
•	San Gimignano and Bologna
•	Fondaco dei Tedeschi, 1228, rebuilt 1508, Venice
•	Town Hall of Siena, c. 1300
•	Florence Baptistery, 1060
•	Duomo of Florence
•	Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, Florence, Michelozzo, c. 1450.
•	Rucellai Palace, Florence, Leon Battista Alberti, c. 1450
•	Basilica di San Lorenzo, Florence, Filippo Brunelleschi, 1420

NOTES ON SELECT TERMS
The Peace of Constance 1183
The Italian cities retained local jurisdiction over their territories, and had the freedom to elect their own councils and to enact their own legislation.
Some Italian city-states became great military powers very early on. Venice and Genoa acquired vast naval empires in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
By the late 12th century, a new and remarkable society had emerged in Northern Italy; rich, mobile, expanding, with a mixed aristocracy and urban merchants.
A new designation emerged known as ‘pubblico.’ By 1300, most of these republics had become princely states dominated by a Signore. Some like Florence remained republics.