At the top of the Royal Mile you'll see typical tourist paraphernalia (postcards and T-shirts), but in the narrow surrounding streets there are many individual stores selling antiques, books, curios, and collectibles.
Though the Royal Mile contains cheap tourist items like T-shirts, there are nearby shops selling more particular souvenirs.
The communes were strong enough to confine German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa's Italian ambitions to the south, where he secured Sicily for his Hohenstaufen heirs by marrying his son into the Norman royal family.