*Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents “Hail then our Camillus, our Brutus, our Romulus! Or if you prefer to be addressed by some other name hail author of Roman liberty, of Roman peace, of Roman tranquility. The present age owes you the fact that it will die in liberty; posterity will owe you the fact that it is conceived in liberty.” – Petrarch in a letter to Cola di Rienzo In the wake of the Roman Empire’s collapse, Italy found itself fractured, and nearly 1,000 years after Rome lost its grip in the late 5th century, there were several sovereign regional powers on the peninsula, such as Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States, and Naples. Centuries of conflict ensued, precipitating great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation of the area in many ways.