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Which Lombard cities did medieval Milan fight for regional influence?
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Milan
Shoppers in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan.
During the Middle Ages, as Milan established itself as an autonomous commune in the 11th century, it engaged in a series of long-standing conflicts to secure regional primacy within Lombardy.
Milan fought for influence against several of its less prosperous neighboring cities, most notably:
These struggles were often intense and destructive. For instance, the Milanese razed Lodi in 1111, and after a bitter conflict that lasted from 1118 to 1127, Como was also destroyed. These regional tensions eventually provided the pretext for the intervention of the Holy Roman emperor Frederick I Barbarossa, who sought to bring the city under direct imperial authority.1