Located in northwestern central Italy, it bordered the Papal States to the south, the Ligurian Sea to the west and Lombardy to the north.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Tuscia from 568 had been part of the Italian Kingdom of the Lombards (Langobardia Major) until, in 754, the Frankish kings intervened in the conflict with Pope Stephen II.

During the late ninth and early tenth century, the support of the margraves of Tuscany was instrumental for any candidate intent on becoming king of Italy.

Besides her vast Emilian allods, her greatest possession was Tuscany, held in feudal tenure, and she wielded it to the benefit of the Papacy in the Investiture Controversy.

With Matilda's death in 1115, the era of the feudal princes had passed in northern Italy, to be replaced by the dominance of the city-states, maritime republics and communes.