Consequences of United Medieval Italy?

Remember it doesn't have to be Venice or the Byzantines. I just threw those two out for examples.

I see the biggest problem area to unify being Northern Italy. But with regards to the Papacy couldn't the unifying power just take everything else leaving only the Papal territories then after solidifying power take the capital, sort of similar to the original unification
 
Gian Galeazzo Visconti living a tad more is my personal pet PoD. Have him live some ten-fifteen years more (fully possible), and you get all the lands owned by Milan in 1402, plus Florence, plus probably Genoa, who OTL bent the knee in 1409 (IIRC) and here doesn't really have a reason to do otherwise. It's not Italy yet, but if he has time to consolidate (and he was starting to do that - there are good reasons to argue that he wanted to stop after Florence) he has created an England. Not unified, but one hegemonic power who can stomp the others and achieve that, instead of the balance of power that eventually led to the Italian wars and foreign domination.
The added bonuses are that Aragon will soon have a civil war on the succession, France will be involved in the final round of the 100 years war, the HRE is weak and ineffectual and there are two popes around (the Great Schism is still in effect) which makes easier to deal with the issue of the temporal power of the church.
GG has to consolidate his domains and improve his fiscal system (but reforms had already been started on both fronts); more than everything else he has to educate his elder son (Filippo Maria was a disgusting individual IOTL) or, if this fail, pass the inheritance to the younger one who looked more promising.
I suppose he might also find the opportunity to put some pressure over the Gonzaga in Mantua and the Este in Ferrara, and pull them firmly into his orbit (the da Carrara of Padua have to go, too much bad blood in the past to believe a reconciliation is possible).
Which leaves Venice. If GG is as smart as he appears, the best thing he can do is setting up a long-term strategic alliance with the republic: Milan and Venice are complementary and the majority of the goods from Venice to Europe will be passing through Visconti territory (he controls the navigation on the Po and Ticino, as well the approaches to the Brenner and Sempione passes). If he does not see the benefits and tries to take Venice (or even to foment a pro-Visconti party in the city) it will not end well.
 
The point is : what happens when cimes the time of discovering America and colonizing It. Of course, italians were prominent. But they had to work for atlantic powers.

So It would be bonus if you had Italy take control of the iberic peninsula.
With a few dynastic alliances (Manfred was allied with Aragon) and opportune death, plus à few victories and conquests, you could do so.

And you could basically reach a situation where, by 1500, Italy is the head of some kind of western roman empire around 100 BCE less its eastern and carthaginian possessions. It would hold Italy, Spain, Portugal, Provence and Languedoc, and the illyrian coast.

A share of the trans-Atlantic trade would certainly be nice, but the problems are huge too.
There is an obvious alternative, which is also much closer at hand: Egypt.
Take Egypt (or at the very least get on very friendly with them) and the trade with India (and beyond) is there for the taking.
The Portuguese would not stand a chance with a trading power already established in Egypt and the Red sea by the time they start sniffing around.
 
I can't see Venice unifying Italy, or even being a part of unified Italy if it happens. It took them a long time to see themselves as Italians. Until the 12th century they saw themselves as Romans, and when I say Romans, I mean part of the Byzantine Empire, they even participated in Byzantine military campaigns (for a price, of course). Even after Venetian- Byzantine relations soured, they had bad relations with the rest of Italy, especially with the Pope, who was angry that they traded and even sold weapons to the enemies of Christendom, especially Egypt.
 
For the unification of Italy to happen during the Middle Ages, there is 24 year long window of opportunity between the end of the Black Death pandemic (1353) and the end of the Avignon Papacy (1377). During that period the Pope's seat of power was out of Rome, France and Aragon were in no real shape to send troops in southern Italy and the Duchy of Milan was one of the few countries in all of Europe to have been only minimally affected by the pandemic.

An ATL Duchy of Milan exploiting their bout of good luck at the right time would not only result in an unified Italy five centuries early, but probably also into an alliance with England, in recognition for helping them win the One Hundred Year War by keeping the French occupied on a second front, and being at least on good terms with Granada, seeing as diverting Aragon's attention on Sicily would have probably allowed the iberian muslims to turn the tide against the Reconquistadores to some extent.

It would have landed us (I'm Italian) in hot water with the Pope twice over, but who cares? :D
 
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If Italy were to take Egypt would it be similar in format to the way Britain did it OTL? Or more direct rule?

Also wonder how Gibralter would develop or relationships with Greece and Cyprus.
 
In 888 CE the cities of Genoa, Florence, and Pisa are given de facto independence from King Adam Karling of Italy. Saracens sack Rome and stuff, giant Genovese coalition to steal everything they possibly can form Tunis, blah blah blah, Genoa most powerful Republic, kills Pisa, annexes Pisa, annexes Amalfi and Napoli, trade colonies everywhere, doges become less corrupt and more imperialistic, Tuscany is devoured from a crumbling HRE, Milan and Savoy next, and you have a super Sardinia-Piedmont in 1200 CE.

Kills Venice, annexes most of north Italy, asks Pope (who likes Genoa for killing Muslims) to coronate the doge as Leader of Italy (excepting the Papal States of course). And Unified Italy.


So, Republic? Check.
Awesome trade empire? Check.
Ability to explore beyond the Mediterranean? Check.

Discovers and colonizes Canaries in about 1240, same with Cape Verde and Madeira, trades with Mali and Songhai for slaves and gold, tries to go to India going west, finds America. blah blah.


Oh, I should point out that Italy annexes lots of Andalusia as payment for basically killing the Muslims there. So they have friendly waters for Atlantic passage.






And that, my friends, is what I like to call, the Genowank.
 
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