Republic of Venice

While studying Venetian trade in Alexandria, I discovered a hitherto unknown letter in the State Archives of Venice which sheds light on the activities of the Venetian diarist Antonio Morosini and his chronicle. The letter is in Morosini's own hand and directed to his nephew, serving as Venetian consul in Alexandria. It deals mainly with political and military subjects and is therefore very different from the typical merchant letters of the period. Other letters directed to the same consul reveal the singular character of Morosini's; apart from its first and last paragraphs it seems to be almost an early form of newsletter or avviso. According to established opinion, the newsletter came into being only at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Therefore, the study of this letter has far-reaching consequences not only for research on Morosini's chronicle, on which this and several other merchant letters cast new light, but also for the history of news production and diffusion in general.

The geographical backdrop of the paper is Friuli, a border territory divided between the Republic of Venice and the County of Gorizia, an area in which different social, political and juridical realities encountered each other. The aim is to draw attention to the administration of assets, to decisions concerning the transmission of property  as well as to several cases of conflict over inheritance concerning the nobility that lived astride of this border.
The archival documents of several of these families represent a rich historical source and are of particular significance from two points of view.
The first is from that of gender : since alongside the usual ‘patrilinear’ documentary sources that family archives hold, we also find numerous writings by the hands of women, writings various in kind and purpose. Account books, family books, memoirs, diaries, and letters enable us to enter closely into the recesses of family setups and networks of kin, and of economic and patrimonial managements, all domains in which women performed important roles. We can thus trace the ways in which women were able to act when the time came to express the will to hand down or to lay claim to the transfer of assets.
The fact that family and patrimonial interests in many cases straddled the border makes it particularly interesting to compare the positions and choices of men and women with regard to the different juridical regimes that characterised the Venetian and Hapsburg areas, and to the opportunities or constraints that these implied. Indeed, from this second point of view, these cases enable us to develop a more general social history of the border area, of the family strategies, of the alliances or divisions of an aristocratic elite too often interpreted from a political and conflictual view of the border.

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, Venice was a prosperous and powerful state that played a central role in the political and economic affairs of Italy, Europe, and the wider Mediterranean. It not only occupied the small, northern Adriatic lagoon we might think of today, but also ruled many territories in northern Italy, Croatia, and the eastern Mediterranean. By the year 1500, Venice could claim that it had been a sovereign republic for more than a millennium. Its apparent endurance and peacefulness were attributed to the stability of its government, the selflessness of its leaders, and the liberty of its citizens – all traits widely admired by foreign commentators. Venice’s reputation for tranquility, freedom, and republicanism, not to mention beauty and piety, constituted the so-called Myth of Venice, which the city actively cultivated. Indeed, Venice was so highly esteemed for its effective government that it came to be known as "La Serenissima," the Most Serene Republic.
 "Representing the Law in the Most Serene Republic" illustrates the roles of law and authority in the Venetian government during the Renaissance. The first part of the exhibition introduces the most significant officials and symbols of the Republic, while the second demonstrates how laws were crafted, debated, publicized, and often broken. The show’s protagonists are the Doge and highest magistrates of Venice; the governors they appointed to rule the Republic’s territories abroad; the law-makers in the Senate; and the law-breakers consigned to prison or the galleys – all of them illustrated in finely executed illuminations, drawings, prints, and numismatic portraits.

II. Viyana Kuşatmasından Pasarofça Antlaşmasına kadar Osmanlı Devleti ile Venedik ve Avusturya arasında hem savaş alanında hem de anlaşma masasında ciddi mücadeleler yaşanmıştır. Her bir tarafın birçok diplomatı da bu zaman dilimi içinde kendi ülkelerinin çıkarları doğrultusunda görev yapmışlardır. Bunlardan birisi de Venedikli diplomat Carlo Ruzzini’dir. Uzun yıllar Osmanlı dünyasında diplomatlarını bulunduran Venedik Cumhuriyeti’nin bu tecrübeli diplomatı hem savaş döneminde hem de barış zamanında Osmanlı yöneticileri ve diplomatları ile iletişim içinde olmuştur. Onun 1691-1720 yılları arasında gerçekleştirdiği gözlemleri ve yazdıkları son derece değerli bilgiler içermektedir. Bu bakımdan yaşadığı çağın bu başarılı diplomatının bakış açısından dönemin gelişmelerini okumak her bakımdan Osmanlı-Venedik ilişkilerini anlamak adına da değerli olacaktır. 

Some serious struggles took place between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice and Austria, starting from the second Siege of Vienna until the Treaty of Passarowitz, not only on the battle field, but also on the settlement table. Throughout that period, several diplomats from each party served in parallel with the interests of their own countries. One of them was a Venetian diplomat Carlo Ruzzini. This experienced diplomat from the Republic of Venice, which had a diplomatic presence in the Ottoman world for long years, were in contact with the Ottoman rulers and diplomats both in the time of war and peace. His observations and writings from the period between 1691 and 1720 include highly valuable information. In this regard, reading about the developments of that time from the perspective of such a successful diplomat of his time will also be rewarding for understanding the Ottoman-Venetian relations in all respects.

Venice rules the Rivers
The control of Terraferma by road and riverine communication it was a geopolitical imperative for Venetian strategy.  Especially the need to command the Rivers was imposed by the same geographic nature of the Lagoon City as well as of the Stato di Terra for assuring the Republic’s security and prosperity. The Lagoon, indeed, is commanded by the many (and often navigable, particularly at the time of the Serenissima) rivers of the Po Valley, as the interruption or dryness of the Padani rivers could even cause the lagoon to disappear, thereafter needing an efficient defense and maintenance. At the same time, they were essential to fuel the wealth of the maritime state built by the Venetians

Una celebrata fase della stirpe dei Morosini dalla Sbarra, a cavallo tra XIII e XIV secolo, è legata al prestigio assunto dalle donne della casata e alle due parrocchie veneziane di Sant’Angelo e San Zulian, nel sestiere di San Marco, dove antiche dimore possono, almeno in parte, ancora testimoniarla, in particolare il ritrovato palazzo di Albertin el Grando, fratello di Tommasina, regina d’Ungheria.

A celebrated phase of the Morosini dalla Sbarra lineage, at the turn of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, is linked to the prestige assumed by the women of the family and to the two Venetian parishes of Sant'Angelo and San Zulian, in sestiere of San Marco, where ancient residences can , at least in part, still testify to it, in particular the rediscovered palace of Albertin el Grando, brother of Tommasina, queen of Hungary.

Nelle dinamiche formative del patrimonio immobiliare dei Morosini da Santo Stefano, protagoniste sono le donne, che legano la casata a quelle dei Foscari e dei Mocenigo dalle Zogie, con particolari connessioni con l’area di San Lio, nel sestiere di Castello, anche nella sua celebre ed emblematica raffigurazione ideata e dipinta da Giovanni Mansueti, per la Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.

In the formative dynamics of the real estate assets of the Morosini da Santo Stefano, the protagonists are women, who link the family to those of the Foscari and Mocenigo dalle Zogie, with particular connections with the San Lio area, in sestiere of Castello, also in its famous and emblematic representation conceived and painted by Giovanni Mansueti, for the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista.

Als der sächsische Kurprinz Friedrich Christian im Jahr 1740 Venedig besuchte, ehrte ihn die Serenissima mit einem glanzvollen Veranstaltungsprogramm, das einem lang etablierten Muster folgte. Da der europäische Hochadel seit dem ausgehenden 16. Jahrhundert in der Regel inkognito in die Lagunenstadt reiste, entfiel zwar der triumphale Ingresso zum Auftakt, doch orientierte sich der Veranstaltungsreigen an den zentralen Momenten offizieller Staatsbesuche, allen voran demjenigen Heinrichs III. im Juli 1574, die in spielerischer Weise adaptiert wurden. Die Besichtigungen des Dogenpalasts, des Markusdoms und des Arsenals und die mit großem künstlerischen Aufwand gestalteten Feste zielten darauf, Venedig als vorbildhafte Republik, als Verteidigerin des christlichen Glaubens, als florierende Handels- und als schlagkräftige Seemacht in Szene zu setzen. Die zum Höhepunkt auf dem Canal Grande ausgerichtete Prunkregatta führte den fürstlichen Besuchern nicht nur die künstlerische Exzellenz und die Wasserathletik der Venezianer vor Augen, sondern sorgte durch die Beteiligung der adligen Elite an dem Paradezug und der übrigen Bevölkerung an dem Ruderwettkampf für eine Intensivierung der kollektiven Identität als venezianischer natio.

This paper explores the relationship between Friedrich Christian of Saxony and Bernardo Bellotto, better known as Canaletto.

Im Zentrum dieses Vortrags stehen zwei Gemälde des venezianischen Vedutenmalers Bernardo Bellotto, die auf ein enges Verhältnis zwischen ihm und Friedrich Christian von Sachsen schließen lassen. Das erste ist höchstwahrscheinlich im Rahmen der Grand Tour des jungen Prinzen um 1740 entstanden und zeigt ihn beim Verlassen des von ihm gemieteten Palazzo Foscari am Canal Grande in Venedig. Venezianische Gondeln sind auch prominent auf der parkseitigen Nymphenburg-Ansicht dargestellt, die Bellotto aus Anlass des München-Aufenthalts von Friedrich Christian über  20  Jahre  später  ausführen  sollte.  Historische  Quellen  werden  zur  Kontextualisierung  dieser  Ereignisse  herangezogen. Sie dienen damit auch zur Beantwortung der bislang unterschätzten Frage, welche Rolle Friedrich Christian für die Karriere Bellottos insgesamt spielte. Während sich die Bellotto-Forschung auf August III. und seinen Premierminister, Graf Heinrich von Brühl, konzentriert hat, steht der vorliegende Beitrag in der Tradition jüngerer Literatur, die den Blick auf zusätzliche Akteure ausgeweitet hat, darunter nicht nur Mitglieder aus dem Hause Wettin wie Friedrich Christian oder sein Nachfolger, Prinz Xaver von Sachsen, sondern auch Sammler aus dem höfischen, bürgerlichen und künstlerischen Umfeld. Zwar waren  die  Verbindungen  zwischen  Venedig  und  Dresden  traditionell  sehr  eng,  doch  war  es  womöglich  Friedrich  Christian, der mit seinem Venedig-Aufenthalt das Fundament für Bellottos Dresdner Periode (1747–1766) legte und auch die Nymphenburg-Ansichten in Auftrag gegeben hat.