The merchants were all about the riches. They liked to have big mansions, Roman houses, and making the city bigger. They wanted to have the best things, so this caused merchants to compete with each other to see who has better things like grand buildings. Also, the northern part of Italy was the richest state in Europe.The way these merchants and states got rich is by trading. The most important trading roads started from the east , all the way through the Byzantine Empire and the Arab countries and towards the ports of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice;these states had produced strong navies. Some five political parties or leagues predominatd the business of Italy. The merchants had little power, but people who had lots of power were royality. In the down south, blood related monarchs controlled the kingdom of Naples, containing the island of Sicily, half way through the 15th century, the kingdom were saved from the spanish monarchs of Aragon, then at the northern of the kingdom of Naples, the Papal state were established particuly governed from Rome. The city-states of northern Italy were the last three political powers. During the Renaissance, the goverment and the trading system were transformed to more reasonable system, some of this are still preformed in today's society. Also, people thought that knowledge was power.