I would probably create a new kingdom localized as italy then, k_central_italy for an example and just reloclaize k_italy as Lombardy, much less work.
Except the old excharchate of ravenna wasn't territorial coherent.
If it's for 1066, then splintering it doesn't make much sense. Italy went straight from unified kingdom to city states to unified duchies.
That's what mods are for. This is clearly a what-if scenario.
Oooh, got a Steam link for that?
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Well that's essentially how I treat kingdoms in the HRE as grand duchies.
Exactly a stopgap sort of a grand duchy between the duchies and unifying all of italy, I am thinking of adding a decision for doing that if you hold them all folding all their dejure back into k-italy.
Unfortunately not, it is as a part of my much larger personal mod, I could maybe dig out the dejure changes for you. Edit: I did it's attached, some of the work is borrowed from other people I have to admit I no longer recall who. Which is also part of why I can't really publish it.
Well the southern portion is easy there's the grand duchy of Tuscany which ruled large portions of the area, granted not until late EU4 period though.
Thanks those are great will definitely have a closer look at them.Considering the fact that you want to 'Balkanize' it, maybe a look at cultural differences rather than at political structures might be of some use?
Now I know little to nothing of regional differences in Italy, and I do think every area that can be equated with something like an in-game Duchy already feels they are unique. However with some digging around online I stumbled across maps of Italian dialects that maybe create nice chunks of 'Balkanization'. Of course these dialects are modern, and probably the result of much of Italian history that has yet to unfold in 1066, but maybe it is of some use to you.
First map is the clearest, the second seems to provide some more detail for the big Northern dialectgroup.
The problem is, those are both modern maps - Roman dialect as is today (Romanaccio) formed around the 15th century, and was closer to Neapolitan before that (something visible still today in the Southern Latium dialects); Sardinia was not yet home to those Tuscan/Genoan/Catalan linguistic island, that formed during the various ownerships from the 12th century onwards; not to forget the now-gone Dalmatic, spoken from Veglia, to Zara, to Spalato, to Ragusa, and the Istrian Friulans. Trento was more firmly Italian, due to no Austrian domain having happened yet; and in general the differences were more nuanced, in large part due to a koine Italian that had been used for a century or so and the novelty of independence still bearing little sign on the various dialects (something that would change in the later centuries).
I have no idea I have never been to Italy, I have no idea how easy they are to cross and where it is possible to do so. I mean it wouldn't make sense to make a kingdom where it was difficult or even impossible to get from one half of it to the other.
The Apennines are relatively easy to cross, being as a whole less high than the Alps; still, they are no slouch either, which is why the main route to cross them was the Roman "Via Flaminia" for centuries, going from Rome to Pesaro (before continuing north to Rimini). Loss of control over this route to the Langobards was the reason for the Papal State's dogged attempts to keep a hold on the so-called Byzantine Corridor, passing further north through Perugia, once Spoleto had fallen. It's also why I keep saying that a Perugia province would really be needed to represent the area, especially during the earliest start date, but that's not relevant to the thread.
