Until September 1870, the city of Rome had been controlled by the Pope as part of his Papal States. When King Victor Emmanuel II conquered the city in 1870, Pope Pius IX refused to recognize the newly founded Kingdom of Italy. A city-state is an independent sovereign city that serves as the center of political, economic and cultural life in its adjacent territory. [1] They have existed since the beginning of history in many parts of the world, including cities like Rome, Athens, Sparta, Carthage, and medieval and Renaissance Italian city-states like Florence, Venice, Genoa, and Milan. With the rise of nation-states around the world, there are few modern sovereign city-states, with some disagreement about what qualifies; Monaco, Singapore and Vatican City are most often accepted as such. Singapore is the clearest example with full autonomy, its own currency, a robust military and a population of 5.3 million. [2] Some cities or urban areas, although not sovereign states, may still be part of a federation or enjoy a high degree of autonomy. As such, they function as “city-states” in the context of the sovereign state to which they belong. Mogens historian Herman Hansen describes this aspect of self-government as follows: “The city-state is an autonomous political entity, but not necessarily independent.” [5] A city with more limited self-government can be called an independent city. Another example of Italian city-states were the powerful maritime republics, the most famous are: Republic of Venice, Republic of Genoa, Republic of Amalfi and Republic of Pisa.
In northern and central Italy, city-states – with varying amounts of associated land – became the standard form of politics in the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Some of them, although de facto independent states, were officially part of the Holy Roman Empire. The era of Italian states, especially from the 11th to the 15th century, was marked by remarkable economic development, trade, production and mercantile capitalism, as well as increasing urbanization. With remarkable influence in much of the Mediterranean world and in Europe as a whole. During this period, most Italian city-states were ruled by a single person, such as the Signoria, or by a dynasty, such as the House of Gonzaga and the House of Sforza. [10] The city-state`s popularity and spread flourished until the turbulent demise of Rome in 476 AD, which led to the virtual annihilation of the form of government. City-states experienced a small renaissance in the 11th century AD, when several Italian examples, such as Naples and Venice, achieved considerable economic prosperity. With an area of approximately 108 hectares in Rome, Italy, the Vatican City State is the smallest independent country in the world. The Vatican City`s political system, created by the 1929 Lateran Treaty with Italy, is controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, with the pope acting as the legislative, judicial, and executive head of government. The city`s permanent population of about 1,000 is almost entirely Catholic clergy.
As a neutral country without its own army, Vatican City has never been involved in a war. The economy of Vatican City is based on the sale of its stamps, historical publications, souvenirs, donations, investments in its reserves and entrance fees to the museum. 26. In February 2003, a bill was introduced by Peter Vallone, Jr., a member of the Astoria City Council in Queens, which was supported by 20 of the 51 members of the City Council. The Blue State divides and opposes the policies of Governor George Pataki. A committee report was prepared, but little further action was taken, and the bill was reintroduced on the same day in 2004 with an additional sponsor. Like Mayor Wood, Councillor Vallone pointed to the tax benefits of secession, as revenue now comes from Wall Street instead of tariffs. Councillor Vallone reintroduced the bill in 2006. In January 2008, Vallone again proposed a bill to separate New York City from New York State.
After Mayor Michael Bloomberg testified before New York state lawmakers that New York City was giving the state $11 billion more than it gets back, Vallone said, “If it`s not secession, please tell me what other options we have if the state continues to take billions from us and give us money back? Should we raise taxes further? Should we cut services even more? Or should we seriously consider going out alone? The New York City Council has scheduled a meeting on the issue. [50] The impasse was resolved in 1929 by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini`s Lateran Pacts between King Victor Emmanuel III and Pope Pius XI.
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