In the nineteenth century most cities and townships of Piedmont saw the production of municipal histories. The first influence at work here was that of the "model" medieval commune, applied even to urban or semi-urban centres which had not experienced any effective municipal autonomy in the 12th and 13th centuries. Later on, with the establishment of the united Kingdom of Italy and the rise of the Savoyard dynastic myth, the main reference was to the princely House which in the late middle ages had unified under its rule the subalpine area of Piedmont.
Keywords: Historiography; middle age; municipal history