Società di torre e società cittadina. Sui 'pacta turris' del XII secolo

In the latter half of the 12th century, the families of the groups overseeing the comuni forged widespread, implementable and strictly regulated military alliances. These alliances were organized around the control of tower houses. However, the paucity of surviving documentation has long hindered meaningful research into these ‘intermediate bodies’ of society, too often considered relics of a ‘feudal’ past. The shared management of power and assets, the written regulation of violence, and the presence of controlling groups that would vary according to precise legislation all indicate that the ‘association of towers’ organized around the ‘pacta’ were not simply family groups, rather complex coordinating bodies not dissimilar to the city communes.