The City-States of the Italian Peninsula 45

longer able to support artistic glories, and the Renaissance ended in a
mood of discouragement, in striking contrast to the contagious optimism
that had characterized its greatest moments.

The City-States of the Italian Peninsula

The city-states were the fundamental political unit of the Italian peninsula,
the most urbanized part of the Western world, even though the vast majority
of the population of the Italian peninsula still lived in the countryside. In
1200, there were several hundred independent city-states on the Italian
peninsula; gradually, however, that number was reduced, as many were
absorbed as subject territories by more powerful city-states. A century later,
at least twenty-three cities in the northern and central parts of the peninsula
had populations of more than 20,000. It was within these city-states that the
achievements of the Renaissance took place.

The city-states of Renaissance Italy were the most urbanized part of the Western

world. Pictured here is the Loggia dei Lanzi, the principal gathering place in Flo­

rence. In the foreground, one can see priests and nuns praying while Florentine cit­

izens go on about their day.