<P> After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , urban settlements in Italy generally enjoyed a greater continuity than in the rest of western Europe . Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan , Umbrian and Roman towns which had existed within the Roman Empire . The republican institutions of Rome had also survived . Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land , but by the 11th century , many cities , including Venice , Milan , Florence , Genoa , Pisa , Lucca , Cremona , Siena , Perugia , Spoleto , Todi , Terni , and many others , had become large trading metropoles , able to obtain independence from their formal sovereigns . </P>
<P> After the fall of the Western Roman Empire , urban settlements in Italy generally enjoyed a greater continuity than in the rest of western Europe . Many of these towns were survivors of earlier Etruscan , Umbrian and Roman towns which had existed within the Roman Empire . The republican institutions of Rome had also survived . Some feudal lords existed with a servile labour force and huge tracts of land , but by the 11th century , many cities , including Venice , Milan , Florence , Genoa , Pisa , Lucca , Cremona , Siena , Perugia , Spoleto , Todi , Terni , and many others , had become large trading metropoles , able to obtain independence from their formal sovereigns . </P>
what brought great wealth and power to italian city states in the 14th century
what brought great wealth and power to italian city states in the 14th century
trading
trading