I haven't yet played CKII (my copy is in the mail) but just from reading, I like this change. Genoa and Venice were enormously powerful IRL, controlling regions ranging from Croatia, Cyprus and Crete, to half of Istanbul, pieces of Tunis and the Crimea. Venice and Genoa together even helped bring down the Byzantine Empire.
The merchant republics were very powerful at that time and continued to be so until the Black Death devastated them in the 1400s, and an earthquake destroyed the Republic of Ragusa in the 1600s.
The merchant republics were very powerful at that time and continued to be so until the Black Death devastated them in the 1400s, and an earthquake destroyed the Republic of Ragusa in the 1600s.