Each player is an Italian prince and begins the game with two cities. The first building in each city is the prince's castle. First, the princes must provide food for their people. As the populations of the princes' cities grow, so must the food supplies. With their basic needs met, the people look beyond these basic needs for the services their cities can provide. As the cities grow and seek to provide the services their people want, the princes build schools for education, statues for culture, and public baths for health.

Of course, not all cities' services are equal. Those that provide better services for their citizens will attract people from those that do not. In the end, it is the prince that provides the best services for the people that will have the largest and best cities. That prince will win the game!