I am bringing an italian city government into focus for a few stories complete with Podesta, consuls etc but I don't really have any idea about how they would actually be organised within the city.

I have a lot of preconceived modern ideas about civic halls with receptionists and offices.

Does anybody out there know how city governments of this time were organised in terms of offices, contacting people through official channels, keeping of records (where would they have been kept? Who would have access?)?

Perhaps more importantly, can anyone suggest a good resource that I can look through for information on all this?

Many thanks,

Mark

C. Frugoni, A Distant City: Images of Urban Experience in the Medieval World (1991)

T. Dean, Land and Power in Late Medieval Ferrara: the Rule of the Este, 1350-1450 (1988)

W. Bowsky, A Medieval Italian Commune: Siena under the Nine, 1287-1355 (1981)

Or, if you are lazier, go ehre: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/bartolus.html

In the medieval tapestry supplement there is a lovely piece about university organisation that points out that there was usually no single campus, but rather a series of rented appartments used for teaching and the lodging of masters. I'm looking for something along these lines, as the ideas I have at the moment are tending towards the modern.

Would there have been a central civic hall with individual offices, cloisters and meeting chambers? Could this same building have housed the government records?

I'd like to get as accurate picture as possible (the historical is often more surprising than the modern) as to how our characters can approach and interact with the government.

communal constitutions and proceedings were extremely varied in 13th century Italy, depending on the currently ruling party and social stratum, the role of the bishop and the dependencies on other communes. (In Pistoia around 1200 one could e. g. be inscribed among the nobles as a punishment - losing all one's political rights as a citizen.) Communal constitutions and history is hence a specialist's business now.

There is one older, highly detailed and still very readable work which leads you in an exemplary manner through all the phases of the history of a particularly interesting medieval Italian commune from its founding, and that is Ferdinand Gregorovius' 'Geschichte der Stadt Rom im Mittelalter' from the 1870s, often reprinted and newly edited in 1953 to 1957. Perhaps an English translation of this - scientifically outdated - book serves you better than modern studies.

For the buildings where a commune resided, just pick up a reasonable Italian tourist's guide. The best ones are the TCI Guides (only in Italian), which give you for every town you can come up an overview of its communal history with every building associated and its specific purpose. In general one can say, that upon its founding a commune resided in one to three contiguous bought or rented houses and towers in a central part of the town, and that at least the building of one Palazzo Comunale was then undertaken, according to the wealth and representation needs of the commune. Fine examples of such Palazzi are these from Perugia (from 1293 on), Gubbio (from 1330s), and of course Florence (from 1300) and Siena (from 1297).
Earlier buildings were sacrificed to these palazzi, of course. Some towns with worse fortunes preserve the buildings from around 1200 instead. Volterra e. g. has still the Piazza dei Priori with the asset from 1200 or so (with a Palazzo dei Priori of 1208+ with truely dangerous stairs).

Yours,

Berengar

There are a few generic things to say here, independent of the particular commune. Maybe they help you, since your questions appear to be rather for the generic. Please excuse me if what I write sounds trivial.
(1) Each commune has a few 'Mazzieri', beadles, ushers, hornists and criers to run errands within the town, deliver more or less official notices, and serve as background for state functions.
(2) There exists always an archive of the commune, entrusted to one or a few record keepers, who at the same time often serve a secretaries to the government of the commune. Often the persons forming the government (Priori, Buonomini, Consoli, Podesta, Capitani del Popolo, Gonfalonieri della Giustizia e tutti quanti) are elected for short terms and hence have to rely on the professionalism of these secretaries. So the latter often become very influential: the formidable 14th century Cancellieri like Coluccio Salutati are basically still such secretaries.
(3) Often the running of the commune requires large assemblies of its members, not only of its officials. These are not held in some great council hall - for this the Palazzi Comunali are not outfitted. Instead they take place often in large churches, e. g. from mendicant orders. Because of the usually strained relation between a town's bishop and commune this church normally would not be the Cathedral.
(4) Communes are organized into smaller units, normally either Quartieri, Rioni, Sestieri etc. (all meaning town quarter), or Arti (guilds), which again have their own assemblies, archives, churches, priests, officials, elections, saints and holidays. These smaller units normally also provide the separate units of the communal militia.
(5) Another important feature of every Italian commune at least from the second half of the 13th century on are the lay confraternities which provide for hospitals, insurances, mutual support and control of its members, public festivals and many other functions earlier provided by monastic orders. These confraternities have again their own assemblies, archives, churches, priests, officials, elections, saints and holidays.
(6) An important function in all of the communes is performed by the Notarii, who are not city officials, but nearly free professionals. They set up testaments, contracts, merchant societies and such, and have them registered.

Perhaps this helps a little. For details on specific towns at specific times, I have to definitely refer you to specialist research.

Yours,

Berengar

I give ISBN and address of the publishing house, since foreign catalogues are not in every bookseller's database.

ISBN 88-7145-179-4 (Italian version likely 88-7145-179-1)
Andrea Augenti (et alii)
Otto der Große und Europa
Volterra von Otto I. bis zur Stadtrepublik
nuova immagine editrice
Via San Quirico 13 - I-53100 Siena
e-mail: nuovaimmagineeditrice@tin.it
tel: -577-42625, fax: -577-44633

Yours,

Berengar

So the government followed the same pattern as the universities in terms of large meetings being held in churches etc. Do you know whether they also rented appartments for use as their offices? By default, I am assuming that they were rich and powerful enough to have purpose built offices for at least the day to day operations.

I think I have settled on the idea of the Podesta having use of a dedicated "estate" within the commune separate from the normal governmental offices in whatever form they would be.

Anyway, thanks for the tips, I'll certainly be using that info. I'll also try looking up that book, ut unless I can find an English translation, I might have to brush up on my languages first.

Mark

Podesta at different times and places means many different things, from head of police (also Bargello) over appointed chief of the executive of a Comune to foreign stateholder of a subject town.

If you use Podesta in the most common meaning, namely referring to the head of executive of a Comune, appointed by elected officials of the Comune for a limited time, from a year to two or three, and coming from another town or region, his dwelling, offices and even provisions would indeed be - if at all possible - set apart from the rest, and provided and closely supervised by the Comune. The Podesta would be allowed to bring only a limited number of trusted Familiares from home, likely his core staff. Communication between Podesta on one side and the members of the Comune or his relatives and compatriots besides the Familiares on the other side would be closely controlled to avoid abuse of power and favoritism.

Yours,

Berengar