Fra Milano e l’Impero. Esordi e affermazione del governo consolare a Lodi nel secolo XII

Destroyed by the Milanese twice – in 1111 and 1158 – and rebuilt by Frederick I Barbarossa during his second descent in Italy, throughout most of its early communal history Lodi was clasped between the hegemonic aims of the Ambrosian metropolis and the support of the Empire. This led to political developments and a sense of civic memory that are in many ways peculiar. This essay aims to investigate these peculiarities by placing the case of Lodi, for the first time, in direct dialogue with the most recent national and international scholarship on the role of the elites and the emergence of consular government.