You can see Roman influence from the Tsardom of Russia to the Holy Roman Empire, my question is why were so many people of that timeframe concentrated on the Empire that fell rather than the Roman Republic that fell? Was there any attempt to or display of fascination to run a country modeling the Roman Republic during the Renaissance?
There were successful attempts, many of them - long lasting: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_republics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Most_Serene_Republic That one lasted for a millenia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Venice