This article presents the successful model of Genoese finance in the early modern period, particularly its primary role in the Spanish silver market in the 16th and 17th centuries. Thanks to a series of unpublished sources held at the State Archives of Bologna and a valuable contemporary manuscript preserved at the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. The main centres for the collection and distribution of Iberian bullion have been identified and analysed, highlighting the principal practices and customs employed in these commercial and financial hubs of the Mediterranean area. The Genoese bankers' professional skill is compared with the mercantile techniques of their main competitors: their Florentine counterparts. In particular, documents preserved in several private Genoese archives once again highlight the need to revisit the business papers of financial operators of the time to shed further light on the complex mechanisms of redistribution of Spanish silver, which has too often been mistakenly identified as the leading cause of the "price revolution", but above all, of the crisis and decline of the 17th century.
Financial history has paid considerable attention to the dependence of the Spanish Monarchy's bankers on the arrival of Spanish American silver in Seville, but less to the conditions under which it was exported to Italy. By emphasising the timing requirements of the financial business, this article analyses the logistical organisation that the king's most prominent Genoese bankers put in place with the aim of synchronising Mediterranean silver transfers by galleys with the periodic collection of Spanish American silver in Spain and the calendar of the Piacenza exchange fairs. An examination of the situation during the War of Monferrato (1613-1617) shows that, by securing the Habsburg Empire's endorsement, Genoese financiers obtained highly favourable access conditions for the vessels of their fellow citizens the Genoese galley contractors. By adapting to the financiers' schedule and guaranteeing high regularity and predictability, their naval services proved to be a key instrument for Genoese dominance in the Mediterranean distribution of silver, which, in turn, helps to better explain Genoese hegemony in the European credit markets of the early 17th century.
This article challenges any homogenizing interpretation of the Carboneria active in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in 1820, highlighting its plural and deeply heterogeneous configuration. Through an examination of its social and territorial ramifications, it shows how the transition from clandestinity to public visibility intensified latent tensions, organizational rivalries, and competing strategies of legitimization. The comparison between Naples and the provinces reveals marked polarizations and divergent political projects, including alternative federal schemes. The result is a shifting and conflict-ridden landscape in which internal fractures, public suspicion, and ongoing processes of identity redefinition shaped the languages, norms, and horizons of action of the carbonaro archipelago.
This article examines a contract signed in August 1594 by the Genoese banker Nicolao Doria for the provision of funds both within and beyond Spain. The study of this contract makes it possible to quantify the cost of remitting cash to Italy and to compare it with that of bills of exchange issued from Spain. Consistent with previous estimates for the seventeenth century, this case shows that the use of silver was approximately 7 per cent cheaper than bills of exchange. This finding helps to explain the strong interest of Genoese bankers in controlling the transfer of precious metals from the Spanish Monarchy through Madrid. Such operations could prove as profitable as lending money itself. For this reason, the Crown also sought, whenever possible, to arrange its own cash remittances.
This study analyzes the silver import operation carried out in Naples by the Genoese merchant Antonio Belmosto at the end of the sixteenth century. The operation was intended to support the increase in royal revenues, specifically, the recovery of previously alienated income by the viceroyalty, which was later to be resold at a lower interest rate. Although this issue was already examined by Professor Luigi De Rosa in research published in the late 1950s, the present study draws on previously overlooked sources and adopts a new approach, one that shifts the focus from strictly economic aspects to the social dynamics involved. This perspective makes it possible to highlight several previously unexplored elements: the forms of resistance to the circulation of silver in specific types of coinage; the effects of its abundance or scarcity on various social and political spheres, as well as on the currency exchange market; and, finally, the ability of economic actors to devise potential remedies to address the kingdom's economic difficulties.
This essay examines the transformation of Genoa's role in the transatlantic silver circuits of the seventeenth century, building on Fernand Braudel's suggestion regarding the importance of the Cadiz-Genoa route. Moving beyond the traditional boundary of the "Century of the Genoese" (1528-1627), the authors propose the concept of a "Long Century of the Genoese" (1528-1714), emphasizing the city's ability to adapt to the logistical and fiscal changes reshaping Mediterranean and Atlantic commerce. The article combines historiographical reflection with a quantitative analysis based on the records of the Genoese Magistracy of Health, which document the arrival of ships carrying silver between 1640 and 1699. These sources reveal Genoa's continuing role as a redistribution hub for pieces of eight destined for Italian and Northern European markets. The study argues that Genoa successfully reinvented itself as a strategic node in the circulation of silver within an increasingly interconnected Mediterranean and Atlantic world.
This essay analyzes the ecclesiastical career of Mgr. Antonio Lombardo and the pastoral work he undertook since his appointment as Archbishop of Messina (1585-95). One of his goals was the reform of the numerous female monasteries in Messina, several of which were founded in the Norman-Swabian era. Over time, these monasteries had become havens for spinsters and places where seclusion and discipline left much to be desired. Their estates were poorly managed to satisfy the appetites of the urban patricians, who had locked up their daughters there who were not destined for marriage.
The spirituality of Battista da Crema (c. 1460-1534) developed within the religious and cultural ferment of early sixteenth-century Italy, revealing a sharp tension between his vision of inner perfection-based on the purification of intentions and the primacy of conscience and aimed at overcoming sacramental formalism and empowering the spiritual autonomy of laypeople and women-and the repressive stance of ecclesiastical hierarchies. Drawing on recent research by Querciolo Mazzonis, which focuses on the friar's concept of Christian life, this work explores interpretations of his thought and activities, with particular attention to the need to historicize his proselytism strategies. These moved from early attempts at infiltration within Venetian charitable confraternities to the more radical experience of the sect of Guastalla. More generally, the study of these dynamics illustrates the fluid and transversal nature even of the most controversial religious reform movements of the sixteenth century (which in the case of the followers of Battista da Crema led to the foundation of three religious orders of the church of Rome), and contributes, as far as the historiographical debate is concerned, to highlighting the limits of excessively linear readings of a period profoundly marked by spiritual conflicts and institutional fractures.
The article examines the historiography of viceregal Naples and its integration into the Spanish Monarchy. About that, the role of the Neapolitan noble elite was important, and the cultural media defined mechanisms of self-representation, consensus, and conflict. Classical historiography emphasized themes such as loyalty and rebellion, bureaucracy, and finance with different methodologies. Nowadays, the research is focused on factional struggles, honours and favours, and family networks, all within a more informal and symbolic understanding of power. Moreover, it is pertinent to examine the local-global discourse of the Monarchy through institutions of representation and diplomatic embassies. In addition, the patronage of the viceroys, their household, ceremonial practices, relationships with social groups, and the scenography of power are important issues that have emerged in the historiographical renewal of Neapolitan history, particularly from cultural and political perspectives. These developments present new challenges for such an important historiographical subject in modernist studies in the last decades.
This article examines the practice of visita de nav & iacute;os-ship inspections-conducted by the Inquisition in seventeenth-century Palermo. Based on the unique surviving visitation register of the Sicilian tribunal (1643-1663), it reconstructs the procedure as a routine exercise of jurisdictional presence rather than as an instrument of censorship or repression. The study situates the Palermo visitas within the broader polycentric governance of the Spanish monarchy, showing how repetition, brevity, and bureaucratic formality transformed inspection into a performative ritual of authority. Through serial reading of more than five hundred entries, the article explores the relation between mobility, documentation, and power in an early modern Mediterranean port. The visita de nav & iacute;o emerges as an act of recognition, an institutional gesture by which the Inquisition asserted visibility within the overlapping jurisdictions of the Sicilian maritime world. The analysis contributes to a redefinition of early modern surveillance practices, highlighting the performative and relational nature of routine administration in the Iberian imperial context.
The central focus of this study is to examine the lives of Italian prisoners of war in the Ottoman territories during World War I. These Italian prisoners of war were held in prison camps across the Ottoman Empire, mainly in Anatolia. The situation of these Italian military and civilian prisoners of war in the Ottoman Empire is an important but relatively under-examined topic in the history of prisoners of war. It has not even been the subject of an independent study. Italian prisoners of war captured by the Ottoman Empire were forced to reside in many Ottoman cities, including Edirne, Ankara, and & Idot;zmir. Some Italians captured by Germany on other fronts of World War I were also sent to Ottoman lands to work for Germany. Haydarpa & scedil;a Station and the construction of the Baghdad Railway were among the places where Italians captured by Germany were put to work. The living conditions of the prisoners and the healthcare services provided to them were shaped within the limited resources of the Ottoman Empire. This article, which also examines the prisoner exchange period, evaluates how the Ottoman Empire's prisoner policy was applied to Italian prisoners based on the Ottoman Archives and related literature.
The essay analyzes certain aspects of Francesco Renda' discourse on the political, cultural, and civil transformations taking place in 18th-century Sicily, and seeks to define the framework of his interpretation of the reforms of the Settecento. By taking into consideration the concrete historical context and the ferment that characterized the 18th century and the first two decades of the 19th century, the article updates the historian's historiographical perspective in light of subsequent contributions to a debate that has consistently proved particularly dynamic.
This article reviews the shared history of Europe and the United States from the age of revolutions to the fall of the Berlin Wall. Pointing out how moments of encounter were followed by periods of separation, if not open conflict, the author challenges simplistic predictions about the end of a political relationship that predominated throughout the post-WWII period until the collapse of the Soviet Union. Instead, these pages choose to look at the long term-250 years of history-to prove the many connections between the two sides of the Atlantic: this is a historical as well as apolitical tradition which, despite the current difficulties, is expected to have a great influence on the two continents' future.
This report aims to offer an overall account of Chris Wickham's new imposing book and a review of the following lively discussion. The work is based on a comparative research about six Mediterranean regions economy, Egypt, North Africa and Sicily together, Byzantium, al-Andalus (muslim Spain and Portugal), some Italian towns (above all the most important maritime cities and Milan), in the tenth to the twelfth centuries. Wickham analyzes, through firsthand reading, documentary and archeological sources, stating, between many other remarks, that the << commercial revolution >>, as a result of Genoa, Venice and Pisa maritime trade, was more a consequence of the inner growth than a prime mover.
The article records the presence of Muslim slaves in Otranto between the 16th and 18th centuries through baptismal documents kept at the city's Parish Archives, the only surviving documentation of the modern age. The data analysis is compared with the forecasts and market trends identified in other case studies concerning modern Apulia, showing that the port of Otranto and its merchants constituted an important hub for the sales of Muslim slaves in Salento.
Sponge hunting has been an important economic activity since ancient times. One of the important regions where this type of hunting is carried out is the Eastern Mediterranean. Especially the Aegean islands in the region, give many opportunities to sponge divers with numerous coastal and shallow areas. There is another important aspect of the sponge diving profession that has not been widely studied: its contribution to the discovery of underwater shipwrecks. Sponge diving has been carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean region, especially in the Aegean Sea, for thousands of years. At the same time, there have been commercial routes in this region where many ships have sunk over thousands of years. The first people to encounter the underwater artifacts formed in this way in the region were sponge divers. The presence of underwater historical artifacts was also identified during the Ottoman period thanks to sponge divers. They also enabled the retrieval of these artifacts to the surface. This situation had continued until modern underwater archaeology studies began. The records of the studies that can be considered the pioneers of Ottoman underwater archaeology in the 19th century can primarily be identified through the reports of sponge divers and the official correspondence that followed these reports. This study, prepared using these reports, also reveals the contributions of sponge diver to Ottoman underwater archaeology.
The Barcelona apothecary Jaume Salvador i Pedrol has been one of the foremost naturalists of his time in the Spanish realms, to the point of being qualified by Tournefort as "gens suae Phoenix" (phoenix of his people). Only a few testimonies of epistolary relations with other contemporary naturalists have been preserved, but among the most interesting are those we display in this article: the correspondence that he maintained directly or indirectly with some Sicilian naturalists, among them Boccone and Cupani. We transcribe and analyze the original writings of Giuseppe Auria, main surgeon of the Sicily galleys fleet, who has acted as intermediary for a good part of those exchanges, Silvio Boccone, Carlo Ventimiglia and Filangeri, count of Prades, and Jaume Salvador, produced between 1693 and 1700.
The essay examines an 18th-century herbarium compiled by Clemente Gazzara, a Franciscan friar from Palermo. Preserved in the Municipal Library of Palermo, the manuscript contains numerous specimens of exotic and medicinal plants, documenting the historical and transregional dimensions of botanical knowledge. Through an analysis of archival correspondence between Gazzara and the Bolognese botanist Ferdinando Bassi, the study situates the herbarium within the broader dynamics of botanical exchange and the circulation of scientific knowledge in Enlightenment Italy. The taxonomic and historical assessment of the specimens, based on pre-Linnaean nomenclature, highlights the period's strong interest in exotic species, their integration into local therapeutic practices, and the cultural and scientific dynamics of mid-18th-century Sicily.
The role played by ethnic and religious minorities in the grain trade during the Early Modern Period has been widely investigated in recent years. Despite the existence of strict formal prohibitions archival sources show that Jews took advantage of this activity to enhance their legitimacy in the eyes of political authorities. Their economic and relational background made them well suited to ensure the supply of cereals during emergencies, when the traditional provisioning systems failed. In case of war or famine political reasons led Christian authorities to abandon their usual formal restrictions, thus allowing Jews to freely engage in the grain trade. Emergency represents therefore the factor that could justify exceptions to the rules. This paper aims at making such general picture more nuanced and compelling by considering some regional peculiarities. Although less eye-catching and impactful than in times of crisis, at least in particular areas (notably, the Duchy of Mantua) and under specific conditions archival sources show that in non-emergency situations Jewish commitment was more continuous (and sometimes unrelated to urban provisioning), focusing also on new crops, such as rice.
This article analyses Ottoman mobility in the Italian peninsula through the development of the imperial consular network and the transformation of migrant communities in the second half of the nineteenth century. Through an analysis of Italian and Ottoman diplomatic and consular reports, this article demonstrates the increase of the Italo-Ottoman cross-migrations and the transformation of that cross-migration and the Ottoman communities in the Italian peninsula over the course of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Studying Ottoman and Italian diplomatic and consular sources concerning the existence of Ottoman communities and consuls, particularly in southern Italy, allows for afresh perspective on the relations between these two states, and the conditions of Ottoman migrants, filling a hitherto little-studied period of Italo-Ottoman relations.
