Unified Medieval Italy

Choose any PoD before ~1450, and after 569, and create a unified Italian state, which may or may not contain Sicily (up to y'all) under any form of government, whether native-ruled, or ruled by a foreign dynasty.
 
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Delvestius

Banned
CESARE BORGIA :D

Damn, before 1450? No fun...

Anyways, How about the Holy Roman Empire taking over the entire boot. After years of certain city states (Venice, Florence) gaining power, they succeed to make the first Italian league, more or less united.
 
What if the Normans where more successful in Italy? This would make them one of the largest most centralised nations in Italy.
 
I see you timed the POD window to exclude the "Belisarius Reigns" scenario or another scenario based on the Belisarius/Narses reconquest of Italy going further and producing unification that could later result in independence.

Charlemange, however, was well inside your time window for the POD. OTL, Charlemange's empire including pretty much all of Italy from Rome northwards, and he did invade southern Italy and achieved a temporary victory in 787 (with the Principality of Benevento accepting terms that included vassalage, but the Prince's heir repudiated the vassalage when he inherited the Principality in 792). I don't know much about that campaign or the politics of southern Italy, but I suspect there's probably a plausible POD that would have lead to Charlemange annexing most or all of it. Assuming minimal butterflies, Lothair's slice of Charlemange's inheritance at the Treaty of Verdun would still include all of Carolingian Italy (now including southern Italy) as well as the Low Countries, Burgandy, etc, and Lothair's heirs could then have divided Middle Frankia on a north/south basis, with one heir getting Italy and the other heir(s) getting Burgandy and the Low Countries.
 
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scholar

Banned
Choose any PoD before ~1450, and after 569, and create a unified Italian state, which may or may not contain Sicily (up to y'all) under any form of government, whether native-ruled, or ruled by a foreign dynasty.
Wasn't Italy essentially unified several times in that period? The Lombards, the Medieval Kingdom of Italy, and the HRE obtained almost all of the peninsula. Often the only bits that were independent were the Papal Domains and Roman Italy.
 
Wasn't Italy essentially unified several times in that period? The Lombards, the Medieval Kingdom of Italy, and the HRE obtained almost all of the peninsula. Often the only bits that were independent were the Papal Domains and Roman Italy.

The medieval kingdom of italy was not a unified italy, the only bits it controled pretty much where Milan and Savoy.
 
Gian Galeazzo Visconti almost did it ( here are his domains at the
time of his death
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Massima_espansione_Viscontea.png).
He died of plague at the age of 50. Leave him rule for another 25-30
years and he'll unite all Northern Italy and
Central Italy into one centralized state. If Northern Italy is
united one of his descendants will eventually take all
Southern Italy.
But of course United Italy will change the course of
late Middle Ages history dramatically.
 
What about under one of the Arogonese monarchs? After they took possession of Sicily, or Southern Italy and/or Sardinia or even before - with Peter III/James I
 

Esopo

Banned
Federico II Hohenstaufen. If he managed to submit the Lombard League (and he was near doing so), he would have for sure created a unified italian kingdom. He didnt care of germany at all. And a unified italy would be by far the greatest power in europe, at that time, because of it being the most populated, richest and advanced region of the continent.
 
Belisarius is more successful in his Italian campaigns.

He conquers Italy, has good relations with the Pope/Franks, and proclaims himself as a rival Roman Emperor in Italy.

Justinian is tied down with eastern conflicts, and the status quo reigns.
 
The dynastic union of Milan and Naples in the person of the HRE might be sufficient to crush Papal power and establish a united Italian nation. Long before Charles V, wasn't there a Spanish king who was King of the Romans? If his line were established in the Empire and continued Spanish expansion on Italy, that might be a way forward.
 
Leave him rule for another 25-30
years and he'll unite all Northern Italy and
Central Italy into one centralized state. If Northern Italy is
united one of his descendants will eventually take all
Southern Italy.

My understanding is that Gian Galeazzo didn't really plan to untite Italy; he actually divvied up the lands he ruled in his will, no?
 
My understanding is that Gian Galeazzo didn't really plan to untite Italy; he actually divvied up the lands he ruled in his will, no?
Well, maybe not all of Italy but Northern and Central Italy for sure. I never heard that he intentionally divided his lends From what I knew on contrary he tried to gain as many lands as was possible being the creator of Duchy of Milan which consisted of his first gains. On the map I attached to my previous are his domains at the moment of his death. His state broke apart after his death -that's true- but that wasn't his will- the problem was that his eldest son was only 13 and couldn't preserve his father's heritage. Had Joan Galeazzo lived such breaking seems implausible.
 
Well, maybe not all of Italy but Northern and Central Italy for sure. I never heard that he intentionally divided his lends From what I knew on contrary he tried to gain as many lands as was possible being the creator of Duchy of Milan which consisted of his first gains. On the map I attached to my previous are his domains at the moment of his death. His state broke apart after his death -that's true- but that wasn't his will- the problem was that his eldest son was only 13 and couldn't preserve his father's heritage. Had Joan Galeazzo lived such breaking seems implausible.

If Gian Galeazzo does not die of plague (or venom?) and survives another 15 years or so (more than that would be unrealistic given the life expectancy of the age) he has a decent period of time to consolidate his domains. Given the favorable window of opportunity (weak HRE and Great Western Schism) he could really do a lot: maybe even get the crown of Italy, by force or by gold (although this might be a long shot). The new lease on life would allow Gian Galeazzo to be involved in the education of his two sons (who might or might not survive him): the succession might well be arranged in the usual Visconti way, with a partition of the Visconti possessions among the heirs; however thing might come out differently if Gian Galeazzo manages to consolidate his domains, the more so if this consolidation receives an imperail and/or papal blessing of some sort. Maybe GG would not wear the crown of king of Italy, one of his sons might gain it.

Another intersting (and quite different) POD would be GG marrying Maria of Aragon, queen of Sicily and duchess of Achaia. IOTL GG made an attempt, and received a strong support fromthe one of the regent of the kingdom of Sicily; however the swift Aragonese reaction aborted the naval expedition organised by GG from Pisa to go to Palermo and bring back the queen. Nothing came out of itafterwards, and GG went on to kill his uncle Barnabo' and to become the sole lord of Lombardy. In a different TL GG might succeed in gaining the hand of Maria, and this would give the Visconti an undisputable claim over the crown of Sicily. This POD might also completely change the objectives of GG as well as a lot of the history of Sicily, Aragon, Italy and most likely France too (GG had married a daughter of the king of France, who died not much later IIRC).
 
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