Origine dei comuni. Discutere Sonnambuli verso un nuovo mondo di Chris Wickham. Introduzione

Introduction to a forum on Chris Wickham’s Sleepwalking into a New World: The Emergence of Italian City Communes in the Twelfth Century, Princeton U.P., Princeton 2015 (It. trans.: Sonnambuli verso un nuovo mondo. L’affermazione dei comuni italiani nel XII secolo, trans. by Luigi Provero, Viella, Roma 2017). Building on his and other scholars’ research, Wickham proposes a new vision of the birth of Italian communes, arguing that, in all but a few cases, the elites of Italian cities developed the new forms of government unaware that they were creating something altogether new. Three scholars discuss the importance of this book and raise points of criticism; the debate is followed by Chris Wickham’s reply.