ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the way in which councils worked to translate political inputs and discussions into simple decisions to be voted and finally put in practice. The cultural and political framework of the communal regimes of medieval Italy was very different from that of modern states. The sense of participation and political identity in these societies recalls, the ancient idea of citizenship. The chapter focuses on the complex relations between the internal workings of the councils and the final redactions of legislative measures, throughout the whole technical process going from the initial discussion to the registration of final decisions voted by the councils. The final historical outcome was that late medieval city councils, continued to enjoy a prestige and a tradition that gave them a crucial role in the civic pride and identity of the municipal elites in the later middle Ages.
