Through a detailed study of the principal spaces of Italian cities, this book explores the relationship between political systems and their methods of representation in architecture. Illustrated by contemporary photographs, analytical drawings and historic images, it examines approximately 70 significant piazzas and situates these in their social and political contexts, highlighting shifts between autocratic and democratic forms of government from antiquity to the present day.It looks at the ideological role of political architecture is analysed through the work of various theorists including ancient sources (Plato, Vitruvius, Augustine), Renaissance thinkers (Alberti, Machiavelli, More) and modern critics (Zevi, Rossi, Tafuri).The complexity of the physical layering of individual spaces over time is represented by one single site in Travestere, Rome, where its history is traced from ancient times to the present day. Subsequent chapters then consider the development of Italian urban form in chronological sequence, categorized by art historical and political periods.