From 1325 to 1329, the Lombard League, a coalition of Italian city-states including Milan and Florence, renews hostilities against the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV. The conflict reflects the ongoing struggle between imperial authority and the independence of the Italian communes, culminating in the 1327 imperial expedition into Italy. Though ultimately inconclusive, the war reinforces the political fragmentation of the peninsula and the power of mercantile republics.

This war fuels the political poetry of the age, with Italian poets writing verse in support of either the imperial or papal factions. It provides a contemporary context for Dante's political vision in his treatise 'De Monarchia' and influences Petrarch's later essays on the Italian nation. The conflict also appears in the chronicles and lyric poems of the period, highlighting the role of poetry as a vehicle for political polemic.