Dalla resistenza anti-francese alla resistenza all'Impero. La battaglia di Pavia (24 febbraio 1525) e gli equilibri tra potenze nella Penisola italiana

The essay examines the succession of breaks and adjustments that affected the balance of power between local and foreign actors involved in the Italian Wars between 1494 and 1559. Observations by contemporary chroniclers - with particular regard to Francesco Guicciardini - and an updated bibliography of contemporary studies allow the essay to show how the battle of Pavia, more than enshrine in fact the Habsburg hegemony in the Italian arena, changed the regional Italian establishments' perception of Charles V role in Peninsular politics. With the defeat and capture of Francis I of Valois, what until then had been considered an Italian sovereign among others - undoubtedly very powerful, but not so much to be able to aspire to undisputed hegemony - appeared as the most credible candidate to establish in Peninsula, rather than an alternative leadership to the French one, a real monarchy, based on his right as Holy Roman Emperor (and King of Italy), on the financial resources of his kingdoms, on the power and authority of his ministers, on the consensus enjoyed by the Habsburg cause among the local élites.