Italian tyranny implied aesthetic taste and liberality of expenditure.
In no way is the characteristic diversity of the Italian communities so noticeable as in their buildings.

Each district, each town, has a well-defined peculiarity, reflecting the specific qualities of the inhabitants and the conditions under which they grew in culture.

In some cases we may refer this local character to nationality and geographical position.

Thus the name of the Lombards has been given to a style of Romanesque, which prevailed through Northern and Central Italy during the period of Lombard ascendency.[10] The Tuscans never forgot the domes of their remote ancestors; the Romans adhered closely to Latin traditions; the Southerners were affected by Byzantine and Saracenic models.

In many instances the geology of the neighbourhood determined the picturesque features of its architecture.