Ravenna e Ferrara nel XII secolo: due comuni davvero "latenti" e "casuali"?

Drawing inspiration from a recent book of Chris Wickham about the rise ofmedieval Italian Comuni, the aim of this essay is to specify some important elementsabout the rise of the Comuniof Ravenna and Ferrara, which definitely predate theage supposed by Wickham. While in the English medievalist’s opinion the Comuniof Ravennaand Ferrara appear only in the second half of the twelfth century, thisessay, based on fundamental Augusto Vasina’s and Antonio Pini’s studies nowadaysprobably forgotten, shows that the rise of the communal movements in Ravenna andFerrara is situated in the early years of the Twelfth Century.These Comuniwere certainly weak and subjects to the ecclesiastical archbishop’sand bishop’s power but however existed in their community authorities. For Ravennaand Ferrara, towns part of the ancient Exarchate of Ravenna, the year 1100 wasprobably decisive, because deep instability occurred in the traditional political andinstitutional system; these events led to the search for new structures in the conductof public affairs.