Towards the end of the 13th century and in the early 14th century the contrasts between the popolo minuto-middle and lower middle classes- and the popolo grasso-wealthy merchants-were accentuated.
Towards the end of the 13th century and in the early 14th century the contrasts between the popolo minuto-middle and lower middle classes- and the popolo grasso-wealthy merchants-were accentuated. The latter had a firm grip on the power, but in the 14th century the popolo minuto tried several times to broaden the democratic base of the government by increasing the participation of the Arti minori in the government. In 1378, under the impulse of a movement set in motion by the proletariat, the popolo grasso were obliged to accept an institutional reform which provided for the constitution of new Guilds; Tintori, Farsettai, Dyers, Corseteers and Ciompi, corresponding to the most humble activities and the workers.But due to internal divergent interests and an incapacity to govern, these guilds were unable to withstand the reaction of the large merchant middle classes which soon once more took over power. The rivalry between two noble families resulted in much dissension and led to the formation of two antagonistic groups of political factions to be known as Neri and Bianchi or Blacks and Whites. The former were generally exponents of the newcomers with easy profits and grouped together the representatives of the old noble classes and the most intransigent Guelphists. The two parties took turns at the priorate in the last decade of the 13th century but from then on the conflict intensified. The Priors were forced to exile the heads of the two factions, and the situation precipitated. The Neri invoked the intervention of the pope who sent as his peacemaker Charles of Valois, the brother of Philip Le Belle, king of France. He openly favored the Neri, and even had the heads of the Bianchi arrested and forced those who were most compromised, including Dante Alighieri, into exile. In addition to these internal struggles, the city had also to sustain the onerous burden of the wars against the powerful Ghibelline signorias of the Visconti and the Scaligeri, joined by the Pisans and the Luccans. Two serious defeats, one in 1315 and the other ten years later, induced Florence first to ask for the protection of the Angevin troops and then to place themselves under the direct dominion of Charles, duke of Calabria, of the house of Anjou. The death of the duke in 1327 unexpectedly restored its freedom to the Florentine Commune. But it did not end there.A new attempt to take over Pisa and Lucca failed miserably. The Florentines, defeated by the Ghibelline forces under the leadership of the lord of Verona, Martino della Scala in 1339, were once more forced to ask King Robert for aid. This resulted in a brief tyranny until the people, tired of violence and abuses of power, threw out the tyrant and restored the civic liberties. During the 14th century, internal strife and wars were aggravated by famine and epidemics, particularly the deadly plague of 1348, which aggravated a situation that was already precarious. Further damage was caused by the disastrous flood of 1333 which also swept away all the bridges over the Arno except the Rubaconte. The 14th century was therefore a century of political and economic crisis, it was a period of decisive juncture common to all Western economies. The crisis was also reflected in the city's architectural activity which continued at a much slower pace than before. Building activity turned first of all to finishing the great undertakings of the end of the 13th century (the walls, the cathedral, the Palazzo della Signoria, the large monastic complex) and to reconstructing the bridges which had been destroyed. The first of these to be rebuilt, between 1334 and 1337, was the Ponte alla Carraia, apparently after a design by Giotto. The reconstructions of the other bridges, from the Ponte Vecchio on, were based on this bridge. The Ponte Vecchio was built by Taddeo Gaddi in three sweeping arches with a road much wider than before. After the impressive expansion of the 13th century, the city began to take shape and what might be called a real town planning policy attempted to provide the buildings with some degree of order and regularity. Throughout the 14th century one provision after another was taken in an effort to broaden the streets or modify their routes and to tear down ramshackle buildings or those with structures which impeded traffic. Naturally the Commune's first obligations were in the reorganization of the city's principal piazzas, Piazza della Signoria and Piazza del Duomo, and streets. As can often still be seen, the buildings from that period have a facade with rough-hewn blocks of pietraforte at least in the bottom part, and a series of regular arches in correspondence to the ground floor. The typical "Florentine" arch consisted of a roundheaded or flat intrados and a slightly pointed extrados.

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