popolo

popolo, (Italian: “people”), in the communes (city-states) of 13th-century Italy, a pressure group instituted to protect the interests of the commoners (actually, wealthy merchants and businessmen) against the nobility that up to then had exclusively controlled commune governments. It was one of a number of groups competing for power in the commune and in some cities succeeded in dominating the government in the late 13th century. The popolo was organized either on a territorial basis...