The Republic of Venice in the 18^th Century

This book traces the last century of life of the Republic of Venice. It aims to show why the “Serenissima”, unlike large countries such as France or England, was not on the way to becoming a modern nation. Until its end, the city of Venice never took the shape of a real national capital, but remained the dominant centre linking wide-ranging and diverse territories around the Adriatic. The particularism, or rather polycentrism, of its state apparatus is the key to understanding its limitations, as well as the legacy left in Venice’s vast domains, reaching from Corfu to Lombardy. In the 18^th century the Republic was weak compared to the great European states. Its institutions and leadership had been frozen for two centuries and there was no political reform, although Enlightenment culture diffused widely over the century. On the economic level, however, there was little sign of “decay”: merchant traffic continued to prosper and there were a number of new developments in the manufacturing sphere.

• 1. The Purposes of This Book
• 2. The Territory
• 1. Its characteristics
• 2. The borders
• 3. The mountains
• 4. The woods
• 5. Water resources
• 6. The sea
• 3. Politics
• 1. The government
• 2. Polycentrism
• 3. The fiscal system
• 4. Foreign affairs
• 4. Population and Agriculture
• 1. Demographic potential
• 2. Agricultural labour and production
• 3. Land ownership and management
• 4. Sheep husbandry
• 5. Economy and Society in Venice
• 1. Commercial services
• 2. The port and the merchant fleet
• 3. Factories and the Arsenal
• 4. Hospitals and confraternities
• 6. Economy and Society across Venice’s Domains
• 1. The mainland cities
• 2. The proto-industrial poles and districts
• 3. Istria, Dalmatia and the maritime domains
• 7. Cultural Life and Reforms
• 1. The Enlightenment in the Veneto
• 2. Religious reforms
• 3. Reforms of the corporate system
• 4. Other economic reforms
• 5. Educational reforms
• 8. Epilogue
• 1. The arrival of the French Republican army
• 2. The end of the aristocratic Republic
• 3. The controversial legacy
• Bibliography
• Index of Names and Places

First published in Italian as La Repubblica di Venezia nel Settecento, Rome 2014 Copyright © 2014 - Viella s.r.l. All rights reserved

The translation of this book has been funded by the University of Padua, Dipartimento di Scienze Storiche, Geografiche e dell’Antichità (DISSGeA)

Cover illustration: Francesco Guardi, Venice from the Bacino di San Marco, ca. 1765. New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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