This article is not about Renaissance's Florence, Rome or Venice. It is about present-day cities that are also states (like a US state) of their own, with their own parliament and laws. Do they exist ? Yes ! There are a few of them :
Germany, a federal country made of 16 states, has given state status to 3 of its cities : Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin. The two first have a long tradition of independence, being major Hanseatic cities since the Middle Ages. Berlin is the capital and largest city in the country.
The most usual for federal states which have city-states is to grant that special priviledge to their capital, like Berlin. Belgium has done the same, but for different reasons. The Brussels Capital-Region has become a state not just for being the biggest city and national capital, but also for being the European capital and for being a bilingual city, which didn't fit in either Dutch-speaking Flanders or French-speaking Wallonia.
The last European city-state is Madrid, one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, and in many ways similar to Berlin's situation.
Germany, a federal country made of 16 states, has given state status to 3 of its cities : Hamburg, Bremen and Berlin. The two first have a long tradition of independence, being major Hanseatic cities since the Middle Ages. Berlin is the capital and largest city in the country.
The most usual for federal states which have city-states is to grant that special priviledge to their capital, like Berlin. Belgium has done the same, but for different reasons. The Brussels Capital-Region has become a state not just for being the biggest city and national capital, but also for being the European capital and for being a bilingual city, which didn't fit in either Dutch-speaking Flanders or French-speaking Wallonia.
The last European city-state is Madrid, one of the 17 autonomous communities of Spain, and in many ways similar to Berlin's situation.