At the end of the 7th century – with the election of the first doges – Venice started to separate itself from the Byzantine influence and become an independent city-state. During the High Middle Ages the group of islands in the northern Adriatic sea that constitute the first nucleus of the city had been part of the exarchate of Italy, but by that time the commercial fortunes of the inhabitants of the lagoon had proved successful enough to allow them to aim to independence. Thus, at the end of the first millennium the leading role of Venice in connecting Europe with the near East, helped by a privileged relationship with Constantinople, was already established. At that moment started a complex (and in some aspects contradictory) history that lasted until the self-proclaimed fall of the Republic in 1797.
The course will investigate and discuss the main features of this long process, and the growth that during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance transformed Venice into one of the main political and naval powers, trade and financial hubs, as well as social and intellectual centres in the Mediterranean basin and Europe. The original city became a proper state and if initially it aimed mainly to sea trading and the Eastern Mediterranean (thanks to its overseas dominions), by the 15th-16th centuries its interest strongly shifted to Italy and Europe, when, after the conquest of the Terraferma State, Venice became one of the main players in the European arena.
Lectures aim to explore this history in a perspective that links institutional, social and economic aspects from the Middle Ages to the end of the Republic, with a special focus on the long Renaissance (14th – mid 17th centuries) at the apex of the Venetian power.
Examples and sources (examined with the help of their English translation) will introduce the focal elements and turning points that marked the political, institutional and socio-economic development of Venetian history. Aspects such as the role of manufacturing and trade, of the foreign minorities living in the city, as well as the peculiarities of the Venetian administrative and bureaucratic system in its dominions will be also examined. Lastly, a special focus will be given to the consequences Venice faced after the birth of the Ottoman empire, the increased role played by other European powers in the Italian peninsula, and the discovery of the new oceanic routes at the beginning of the modern era. Elements which will lead to a slow decay of its international role, and its withdraw from the international stage to focus on the Italian Peninsula in the later early modern period.
The course will investigate and discuss the main features of this long process, and the growth that during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance transformed Venice into one of the main political and naval powers, trade and financial hubs, as well as social and intellectual centres in the Mediterranean basin and Europe. The original city became a proper state and if initially it aimed mainly to sea trading and the Eastern Mediterranean (thanks to its overseas dominions), by the 15th-16th centuries its interest strongly shifted to Italy and Europe, when, after the conquest of the Terraferma State, Venice became one of the main players in the European arena.
Lectures aim to explore this history in a perspective that links institutional, social and economic aspects from the Middle Ages to the end of the Republic, with a special focus on the long Renaissance (14th – mid 17th centuries) at the apex of the Venetian power.
Examples and sources (examined with the help of their English translation) will introduce the focal elements and turning points that marked the political, institutional and socio-economic development of Venetian history. Aspects such as the role of manufacturing and trade, of the foreign minorities living in the city, as well as the peculiarities of the Venetian administrative and bureaucratic system in its dominions will be also examined. Lastly, a special focus will be given to the consequences Venice faced after the birth of the Ottoman empire, the increased role played by other European powers in the Italian peninsula, and the discovery of the new oceanic routes at the beginning of the modern era. Elements which will lead to a slow decay of its international role, and its withdraw from the international stage to focus on the Italian Peninsula in the later early modern period.
- Teacher: Rachele SCURO