Nascita dei Comuni e memoria di Roma: un legame da riscoprire

Abstract

Abstract The historiography on the Italian Communes has investigated the motives behind the new city governments. Jean-Claude Maire Vigueur and Chris Wickham have stressed different rationales in the actions of the communal elites. However, we should avoid underestimating the cultural power of a model still very much present in the Middle Ages: imperial Rome. In the crisis linked to the struggle for investiture, city elites were inspired by the Roman institutional model, albeit following different ‚models‘ (classical, Byzantine, Carolingian and Saxon). The communal world interpreted this legacy with the contribution of the Roman Church. In this context, the use of spolia as an instrument of legitimization, stressed by Arnold Esch, should be re-evaluated. The interpretation in a Roman key of institutions, laws, political and artistic languages presupposed a sound cultural education on the part of the people of the commune, based on the classical tradition and, politically, on Roman law and institutions. These concepts were visually expressed in the new artistic style – later called the ‚Romanesque‘ due to the obvious desire to reinterpret classical models. Finally, the equestrian group of Oldrado da Tresseno (1233) on the facade of the Palazzo della Ragione in Milan, the only known example of this type of municipal political representation in the first half of the 13th century, allows us to assess the power of the Roman model in legitimising municipal policies.