When trade began to revive in medieval Europe, giving powerful impetus to the growth of cities, the revival began in Italy. Some of the Italian cities became great centers of banking, commerce, and industry. Genoa, Pisa, and Venice early became important in the Mediterranean trade, and of the three, Venice, aided by the stability of her government, became the most prosperous. Florence became outstanding in banking and woolen manufacture. In the fifteenth century, Naples, Milan, and Venice ranked among the five most populous cities in western Europe. Numerous other cities grew and flourished, making Italy the most highly urbanized area in western Europe in the fourteenth century. Feudalism had never been so firmly established in Italy as in the north. It was, therefore, relatively easy for the growing cities to expand into the surrounding countryside by subduing the nobles and annexing their land. In Italy, to a greater extent than was customary elsewhere, the land-owning nobles took up residence in the towns and became a part of city life. Within these towns and cities, political power belonged to the possessors of urban wealth, that is, to bankers, merchants, and businessmen. The political life of these cities was filled with struggles for power, and these struggles were intimately connected with the rise of new classes as the result of economic growth. When cities began to take control of their own affairs, they were usually ruled by an established governing class which had ties with the land and the feudal nobility, although members of this class might be engaged in business activity. With increasing wealth and prosperity, however, the members of the guilds, commoners by birth but often rich and powerful, demanded a greater share in government. The old ruling class might be called the grandi, or great men, while the guildsmen took the name of popolo, that is, the people. The name people is a bit misleading both because some members of this group were very rich and because the great mass of the population was really not represented in the so-called popular party.
