The formation of the modem state in the Italian territories under spanish domination: Naples, Sicily and Sardinia in the 15th-17th centuries

Abstract

The tie between meridional Italy and Spain is one of the key elements in political and social life of both lands through out Medieval and Modem ages. Here, I analize the policy followed in Sicily, Naples and Cerdeña where the action of the crown funtions through the dialectic colaboration-autonomy which permits the insertion of the Italian kingdoms with certain peculiarities, in the European system of states and the creation, in a dynamical process, of an imperial consciousness. Thanks to the mentioned situation and to the support of the Crown, the crown was not touched by the crisis of the 1640s.