If I am not mistaken, Burnham argues in his Machiavellians: Defenders of Freedom that although Machiavelli believed republicanism to be generally the best form of government, he did not hold that republicanism was the best form of government for the Italian city-states at that time.

Having not read the article, I cannot criticize the arguments that it contains. However, I am inclined to say that it goes against the mainstream view of Machiavelli (that is, mainstream view of experts on Machiavelli, not just mainstream view of the masses).