Genoa

The present article offers the edition and study of the «Privilege that the Catholic Kings award to Ambrosio Spindola, Genoese, merchant citizen of Grenade, authorising him to buy a mill and lands in Deifontes, that belonged to Yusa de Mora, citizen of Granada», preserved at the University of Granada Royal Hospital’s Library. The importance of the document to study the Ligurian presence in the Nasrid capital immediately after the Castilian conquest and its connections with the Mudejar oligarchy is underlined. Last, we offer a biographical profile of the collaborationist Yuça de Mora.

Il paper studia cause e conseguenze dei mutamenti nell’interazione e tolleranza reciproca fra le varie
popolazioni metropolitane del centro storico genovese, proponendo una soluzione. Genova e in particolare il
suo nucleo medievale si è sempre caratterizzata come accogliente in quanto porto aperto al Mediterraneo,
singolare quindi che conflitti si registrino ora che il centro pare tornare a vivere. La capacità inclusiva fondata
su apertura e reinterpretazione degli stimoli estranei sembra non essere più valida per il centro storico, per
quanto riguarda sia abitanti immigrati (mixofobia), sia city-users della movida. Il numero di abitanti stabili
scende a vantaggio di nuove figure: immigrati per l’insediamento “povero”, studenti per quello da
gentrification. A questo proposito si propone l’utilizzo, quale soluzione allo scontro fra le varie popolazioni
metropolitane sulla destinazione d’uso dello spazio, di strumenti decisionali maggiormente partecipativi, intesi
anche come recupero della tolleranza tipicamente mediterranea.

The essay proposes a focus on the relationships between Genoa and Bologna in the middle of the 17th Century. The topic is a letter written in May 1641 by Giovanni Battista Manzini (1599-1664) to Gio Antonio Sauli (1596-1661) about ten pictures of Guido Reni bought by Anton Giulio I Brignole-Sale (1605-1662). The quality of the paintings mentioned in the letter, especially four ‘Sibille’, was questioned. Anton Giulio Brignole- Sale wrote to Manzini: “de quadri le quattro Sibille (...) sono sicuramente stimati copie, in alcuna delle quali Guido, al più, al più, habbia data qualche pennellata”. Later, Manzini wrote to his friend Sauli for an help in this difficult diplomatic relationship, to re-establish his honor. This is not surprising. The noble Genoese Gio Antonio Sauli is known for his interests in art and patronage. Especially, he loved the works of Orazio Gentileschi. The unknown letter written by Manzini to Gio Antonio Sauli in 1641 is an important new element to understand the complexity of the phenomenon of collecting.

"While historiography has analyzed the economic rise of northwestern Europe during Seventeenth century, less effort has been devoted to tackle the relative decline of the Mediterranean. Which factors contributed to eclipse the preeminence of south-European merchant-banking networks? How did they react to that shift? This thesis aims at filling that gap by elaborating on the case-study of the Genoese company of Domenico Grillo, offering insight into those questions.

The main argument is that the Genoese not only faced increasing competition for the control of exchange circuits but also the reconfiguration of the institutional arrangements that had sustained their previous role as leaders of European financial markets. Challenging the traditional view of decay, this study reveals an astonishing dynamism of Genoese and Italian merchant-bankers in commercial circuits across and within different states and empires, and suggests that these networks adapted rather than collapsed. Furthermore, it shows something perhaps unexpected: the Genoese response went beyond the Mediterranean and encompassed the Atlantic as well.

The thesis starts discussing how the Genoese case has been traditionally approached, to then examine the role of those networks in European circuits of exchange. Next, a deep investigation is carried out into the institutional devices supporting Grillo’s business in the Americas, exploring how he collaborated and competed with other actors. The study continues analyzing the trading chains he established across the Mediterranean, Atlantic Europe and the Americas. Finally it focuses on the many times neglected role displayed by the Republic of Genoa in framing the performance of Genoese networks abroad.

Using a transnational approach, sources are interrogated in dialogue with the flourishing literature about merchant networks and institutions. Thus, this investigation goes beyond traditional images about the "Genoese capitalism” and revisits one of the axioms underpinning dominant metanarratives about the rise of the so-called "Western civilization”.

"We are pleased to announce that the full programme of the ARCHIves Conference  ‘Archives, Officers and Society in Medieval and Early Modern Italy’ is now available (full abstracts are available at http://www.bbk.ac.uk/history/archives/events/18-19-september-2014-archives-officers-and-society-in-medieval-and-early-modern-italy and on our Academia‘s webpage).
The conference will take place at the Istituto Storico Italiano per l’Età Moderna e Contemporanea, Palazzo Mattei di Giove, via Michelangelo Caetani, 32, Rome (Italy), 18-19 September 2014.

There are no registration fees, but places are limited; if you would like to participate (or for any other question), please write to italianarchives@bbk.ac.uk

Charles Dickens resided in Genoa, Italy, in 1844-45, and befriended Gian Carlo Di Negro, patron of the arts and poet. This paper includes three uncollected letters that Dickens wrote Di Negro; it also  discusses his later (1859) reminiscences of his eccentric Genoese host.

We are currently organizing a organised by the ARCHIves Project. We will be advertising small 2-day Conference on the theme ‘Archives, Officers and Society in Italy from the Middle Ages to the Early Modern period (14th-18th century)’, 18-19 September 2014, at the Istituto Storico Italiano per l’Età Moderna e Contemporanea, Palazzo Mattei di Giove, via Michelangelo Caetani, 32, Rome (Italy), grants to cover the travel and accomodation expenses of up to 6 junior researchers on Italian history (PhD students or doctors who have defended their PhD project no more than 2 years ago) wishing to present a paper related to the Conference’s theme. Further information and the programme will follow by March 2014. For any questions don't hesitate to contact us at: italianarchives@bbk.ac.uk

Lo studio delle fonti scritte ed il relativo confronto con le fonti materiali consentono di raccogliere informazioni sia degli aspetti costruttivi, sia delle funzioni, dell'uso e della localizzazione dei diversi impianti e locali specializzati presenti nelle case genovesi dell’età moderna. In esse erano presenti sistemi idonei a scaldarsi, cucinare, lavare, lavarsi e rispondere ai più elementari bisogni igienici. Conoscerli significa poterli riconoscere quando se ne incontrano i resti, essere in grado di prevedere la loro possibile ubicazione, ben valutare come operare per la loro conservazione e, a volte, per il loro riutilizzo.

Si tratta di una  ricerca che si è dipanata per molti anni fra documenti d’archivio e osservazioni sul costruito, ed è tuttora in corso. Tra gli obbiettivi primari è  stata individuata la necessità di redigere un elenco dei termini usati nei documenti, provando a delinearne il portato tecnico anche attraverso il confronto con gli spiragli sulla realtà consentiti dall'osservazione dell’edificato storico. Il senso di un lavoro di tal genere è (anche) tentare colmare le lacune  di manuali o  trattati con quelle conoscenze di tipo pratico oggi perdute, e forse trascurate dagli autori del passato per la loro apparente banalità e quotidianità. A tale fine è possibile analizzare la pratica del costruire muovendo da altri generi di documenti scritti dove ne viene fatta menzione e in cui, più o meno esplicitamente, si trovano delle informazioni che rivelano quelle regole non scritte del ben costruire, altrimenti  racchiuse solo nella materia degli edifici.