Compte-rendu / Book review - Maurizio Arfaioli and Marta Caroscio, dir., The Grand Ducal Medici and the Levant (Turnhout: Brepols, 2016) (original) (raw)
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The Ottoman Mediterranean and the Renaissance Venetian Isolarii
Studii şi Materiale de Istorie Medie , 2015
The main contention of this article is that from the very beginning of the genre to its very end, the Venetian isolarii viewed the Levant as a network of islands fractured by the Ottomans’ conquest. Cartographical narratives of a historical trauma, the Venetian isolarii adopted different strategies for tackling a highly sensitive topic. As the Ottomans were steadily advancing along the Eastern Mediterranean archipelagos, the Venetian cartographers, such as Bartolomeo dalli Sonetti and Benedetto Bordone, were carefully editing the content of their isolarii, expecting from their readers to mentally map the invisible confrontation between the Sultan’s army and the Serenissima. The Lepanto victory brought a radical change of tone, and the mapmakers, such as Tomasso Porcacchi, Giovanni Camocio or Simon Pinargenti, manifestly joined the choir of those who were looking forward to the Venetian resurgence in the Levant. The fracture of the Eastern Mediterranean space was no longer suggested, but visibly exposed. However, it was only a change of tone, as the mapmakers continued to convey the same fundamental ideas. Thus, the Venetian isolarii display a remarkable continuity through time, from its beginnings to the post-Lepanto era and illustrate both the enduring format of this cartographic genre and its adaptability.
Eastern European History Review, 2022
EASTERN EUROPEAN HISTORY REVIEW: LA RIVISTA Il Comitato redazionale e scienti co è lieto di presentare al pubblico la rivista scienti ca Eastern European History Review. Con un carattere internazionale e interdisciplinare, una cadenza annuale e una fruibilità open access la rivista focalizza i propri interessi sulle dinamiche occorse nell'Europa Orientale durante tutta l'età moderna (XIV-XIX). Eastern European History Review è espressione del Centro Studi dell'Università della Tuscia CESPoM (Centro Studi sull'età dei Sobieski e della Polonia Moderna) nato nel per intuizione del Prof. Gaetano Platania, Direttore Emerito della Rivista. L'iniziativa editoriale che presentiamo nasce dall'evidente mancanza in Italia di una rivista scienti ca relativa alla storia dell'Europa centro-orientale in Età Moderna, nonostante la penisola abbia giocato un ruolo fondamentale per la Storia e la Cultura di una parte integrante del continente, a torto considerata come lontana e periferica. Consapevoli di questo, il Comitato ha posto quale obiettivo primario della Eastern European History Review quello di off rire uno spazio di ri essione e di discussione su temi che appartengono alla storia dell'Europa centro-orientale, e insieme alle relazioni-politiche e culturali-che questa vasta area del Vecchio Continente ha avuto con l'occidente d'Europa, e l'Italia in particolare, incoraggiando il dialogo tra studiosi e esperti di settore, e tra diff erenti approcci della ricerca scienti ca. Il Comitato Redazionale e Scienti co EASTERN EUROPEAN HISTORY REVIEW: THE JOURNAL e Editorial and Scienti c Board are proud delighted to present the Eastern European History Review under the aegis of Sette Città Editore. e Eastern European History Review is an international and interdisciplinary annually online and open access peer-reviewed journal about studies on Ceantral and Eastern Europe in the Modern Age (XIV-XIX). e Journal is also the expression of the Study Center CESPoM (Centro Studi sull'età dei Sobieski e della Polonia Moderna-Center Study on the Age of Sobieski and Modern Poland) of the University of Tuscia, born in , from an idea of Prof. Gaetano Platania, today Director Emeritus of this journal. It publishes articles with signi cant approaches and original interpretations in all research elds concerning Central and Eastern Europe, with speci c attention to the History sciences. e editorial initiative we present comes from the obvious lack of a journal, in Italy, concerning the history of Central and Eastern Europe during the Modern Age, this despite its fundamental role in the history and culture of that part of the continent, wrongly considered distant and peripheral. Quite the contrary is true, in fact. Main objective of the journal is to create a space for re ection and discussion on topics pertaining to Central and Eastern Europe, but also relations with Continental Europe, encouraging dialogue between scholars and experts in the eld, and between diff erent approaches of scienti c research.
The state as a work of art 1-1 introduction This work bears the title of an essay in the strictest sense of the word. No one is more conscious than the writer with what limited means and strength he has addressed himself to a task so arduous. And even if he could look with greater confidence upon his own researches, he would hardly thereby feel more assured of the approval of competent judges. To each eye, perhaps, the outlines of a given civilization present a different picture; and in treating of a civilization which is the mother of our own, and whose influence is still at work among us, it is unavoidable that individual judgement and feeling should tell every moment both on the writer and on the reader. In the wide ocean upon which we venture, the possible ways and directions are many; and the same studies which have served for this work might easily, in other hands, not only receive a wholly different treatment and application, but lead also to essentially different conclusions. Such indeed is the importance of the subject that it still calls for fresh investigation, and may be studied with advantage from the most varied points of view. Meanwhile we are content if a patient hearing is granted us, and if this book be taken and judged as a whole. It is the most serious difficulty of the history of civilization that a great intellectual process must be broken up into single, and often into what seem arbitrary categories in order to be in any way intelligible. It was formerly our intention to fill up the gaps in this book by a special work on the 'Art of the Renaissance'-an intention, however, which we have been able to fulfill only in part.
Revista Historia Autónoma, 18 (2021): 59-74, 2021
In June 1607, a Tuscan fleet of about twenty ships and two thousand two hundred men attacked the fortress of Famagusta in Cyprus, with the aim of making it the base for the subsequent occupation of the whole island, which had been in Ottoman hands since 1570. The attack was a total failure: the Tuscan fleet, divided into two parts, did not meet as planned and the Greek inhabitants of the island, who according to Tuscan information should have rebelled, did not. Moreover, the Ottoman garrison was aware of the attack, which meant that the attempt at a surprise attack was in vain. It is clear that, excluding the logistical problem of the fleet meeting up, the enterprise's lack of success was due to a total inadequacy of what we today would call "intelligence". The information in Tuscans' hands did not turn out to be completely correct and they were unable to keep the planned operation secret. However, by contrast, the Venetian intelligence was able to manage the information in its possession in a more cautious way, taking advantage of the situation effectively. Through this case study, the article aims to follow the scholarship on information gathering in the Early Modern Mediterranean world, showing, once again, how important and extensive such networks were. The aim of this short study, which is based largely on archival documentation, is not to deal with the Tuscan raid on the island, but to identify the faults of the Tuscan “intelligence” that led to the misfortunate attack. Moreover, through the analysis of the documents, it is also possible to add some elements to the knowledge about the Tuscan Grand Duke’s Levantine network.
Since the Middle Age, Italian merchants had established their colonies in the Levant in order to develop the trade between the West and East. As a result of their presence, Italians were able to enlarge their networks during the Ottoman period which enabled them to have a main role in the circulation of goods, ideas and culture in the Levantine cities. Through out of the 19th century, thanks to the foundation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861, the Italians of the Levant took advantage of the new institutions created by the Italian state. Consequently, this gave them a stronger link to their motherland. In this regard, the establishment of an Italian Chamber of Commerce in the Ottoman capital in 1885, was the first step towards the development of an Italian-Ottoman economical relationship. This body, the Italian Chamber of Commerce, was behind the publication of a commercial bulletin, the Rassegna Italiana - Organo degl’Interessi Italiani in Oriente, which supported and informed people about the Levantine trade. The aim of this paper is to investigate the Italian trade network in Turkey after the establishment of the Turkish Republic. This study will deeply examine the Italian presence in the new Turkish market thorough a research on the Italian institutions, Consular Agencies and other entities that functioned during the interwar period. The main questions of this work will be focused on how Italy kept her predominant position in Turkish regions during the past Ottoman period and how her Levantine appendix reacted in the face of the changed political environment. The sources of this paper will be the records of the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Istanbul, the material published by the Rassegna Italiana, the archival documents coming from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome and other information available in several private institutions. A bibliography on this subject in Italian, English, French and Turkish will further buttress and strengthen this research.
I Tatti Studies in the Italian Renaissance, 18/1, 2015, pp.215-232, 2015
The importance of the position of Italian mercantile republics in the Nasrid Kingdom of Granada (1232-1492) during the early Renaissance is widely known. Genoa, Venice and Florence played a decisive role in facilitating the external commerce of the last Muslim state in the Iberian Peninsula, helping Granada to survive in a complex and rapidly changing geopolitical context, with an increasingly strong Crown of Castile pressing the Sultanate on the Iberian Peninsula, and a divided and turbulent Islamic world in the Western Mediterranean, as a long-established historiographical tradition has shown. Scholars have mainly devoted their attention to the relationship of Granada with Genoa, which is understandable if we remember that the Superba had a privileged position in the Nasrid Sultanate. the Genoese were not the only ones who took the opportunity to trade in Nasrid lands. Without minimising the significance of Genoese involvement in developing the region’s commercial potential, other issues to be addressed include the activity of perhaps less visible but far from insignificant merchant communities, including the Venetians and Florentines. Their activities in the Nasrid kingdom were important in their own right, and it certainly complicates a vision defined perhaps too much by Genoese domination until quite recently. To consider the relations between Venice and Florence, on the one hand, and the Sultanate of Granada on the other, enhances our understanding of the role Renaissance Italian states played within the heterogeneous structures of Western Mediterranean Islam. This enhanced narrative may be constructed on the complementary pillars of diplomacy and commerce. Therefore, this essay will study the diplomatic and commercial strategies followed by Renaissance Venice and Florence in Granada, comparing them with their approach to other Western Mediterranean Muslim states. As will become evident, Venice proved to be a very useful model for Florence but, at the same time, it will be clear that if Florence followed the Venetian example in Egypt and the Maghreb, it did not do the same regarding Granada. The differences did not result, though, in a more successful position for either of these Italian republics in Granada, which remained always a secondary market in their economies.