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 In this poem, composed in 1355, the writer does not seem to have any definite Italian prince in his mind, and the conception is still in part that of mediaeval imperialism, inasmuch as this national king is to receive investiture from the Emperor. Towards the end of the century, a bevy of poets hailed the coming redeemer of Italy in the first Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo Visconti. A Paduan poet, Francesco di Vannozzo, composed, in 1388, a cantilena of eight sonnets, in which first Italy herself and then her cities in turn offer homage to the Lombard ruler, saluting him as the national Messiah, the chorus closing with the voice of Rome. A few years later, Simone Serdini, a Sienese, addressed the Duke with a canzone, exhorting him, "per parte d'ogni vero italiano," to take the crown of all Italy (4).

But the time was not ripe for the fulfilment of such designs. The need for political unification was less felt in the following century, the Quattrocento, when the balance of power between the five greater states, through the diplomacy of the Medici, had almost converted Italy into a federation, and at least gave the peninsula the appearance of independence. The classical revival confirmed and strengthened a sense of spiritual unity based on the sentiment of the romanità of Italy. And men prided themselves on working for Italy. Francesco Barbaro, 12