Symbology and function of feasts expressing identity in certain Italian cities between the 13th and 15th centuries

This contribution provides a comparison between three pre- modern Italian cities having three different forms of government: republican Florence, republican Venice (but with a closer form of oligarchic government with respect to Florence) and the duchy of Milan. The point of view adopted is that of rituals and civic feasts. The article shows how the ruling classes in Florence, Venice and Milan created civic feasts to legitimate their power, using various communicative and symbolic languages which reflected the political differences of the three city-states. Their propaganda strategies are analyzed through a manifold variety of sources (narrative, iconographic, legislative, descriptive) with the ultimate aim of underlining how theatre and spectacle, in the 13th to 16th centuries, constituted a crucial point of political negotiation between governments and governed.