Republic of Lucca

The Republic of Lucca was an independent city-state in Tuscany centred on Lucca, which preserved a republican constitution for more than six centuries. The city had been the residence of the margraves of Tuscany and received privileges from Emperor Henry IV in 1084. In 1160 Lucca bought the feudal rights over the city and its territory from Margrave Welf VI, becoming subject directly to the emperor and effectively self-governing. Its government was at first broadly communal and democratic; after 1628 it became a narrow oligarchy. Lucca's territory covered the plain north-west of the city towards the borders of Emilia-Romagna and Liguria. In the early fourteenth century Castruccio Castracani made Lucca the leading opponent of Florentine expansion and defeated Florence at Altopascio in 1325, but his death was followed by anarchy, foreign lords and subjection to Pisa. The republic regained its freedom in 1370. Its wealth came from banking and above all from silk: immigrant weavers from Sicily helped make Lucca the principal Italian centre for brocaded and patterned silks, exported across Europe and as far as Asia. The city kept its independence alongside Venice and Genoa and displayed the word Libertas on its banners. In 1548 the republican conspirator Francesco Burlamacchi was executed for planning a league of free Italian cities. French troops entered Lucca in 1799 and ended the old oligarchy; after further occupations and constitutions, Napoleon merged the state with Piombino in 1805 to form the Principality of Lucca and Piombino for his sister Elisa Bonaparte.