Deleted member 97083
Well, Italy ruled the Mediterranean longer than the Frankish Empire existed, and much longer than the Franks controlled Italy. Rome ruled the entirety of Gaul for 500 years while Francia ruled northern Italy for 40 years. Later French attempts to expand into Italy, when France was more powerful and centralized, were even more transient.I think that surviving Western Roman Empire will eventually evolve to what we now know as Charlemagne's Empire (which is basically OTL's continuation of the WRE). Italy is just too out-of-position to be ruling Britannia, Gaul, and the Rhine.