CHAPHTER E5A C1AHf5 fPiPR1 E5A fEfAP5PE E5A 1fBPiE 163
9 The Merchants
Initially, this commerce was undertaken completely by foreign merchants:
first the Pisans and the Genoese, then Majorcans and Amalfitani. By 1376,
two Ligurian merchants—Nicoloso Meli and Lorenzo de Sori—from
Castelgenovese had appeared. The testament of Petruccio Camuxario sheds
light on the intermediary role played by the local people of Bonifacio, as it
states that he brought imported leathers and cheeses to Sicily, loaded off cham-
ois skins for shipment to Genoa, and also had business dealings in Terranova
and Sassari.63
It was only after 1375 that Catalans from Cagliari, many of whom were
Jewish, would travel to Sicily: Moyses Prufectu of Cagliari changed 40 florins
from Cagliari in 1376, Antoni Madellu in 1414, Antoni Salavardi in 1418, and
Nissim de Medico in 1419. Abbram Francus, a Catalan Jew from Cagliari, came
to Palermo to form an association with local Jewish merchants—Sufen Gilebi
and Sufen Xagarini—to purchase wine and other merchandise to import to
Palermo.64 Ferrer Borra followed in 1456, notably freeing a Tunisian slave for
the enormous “tagla” of 25 ounces.65 Also worthy of note was Galceran Miró, a
Majorcan merchant from Alghero who represented Pere de Ferreri, the presid-
ing judge of Alghero, and bought a Moorish slave for him in Palermo in 1430.66
These were smaller merchants and their limited means could not compare to
the extensive resources of the Pisans, Genoese, and the Catalans of Palermo.
A comparative study of the islands must necessarily address the problem-
atic dualism of Italian identity. Sardinia and Corsica are normally associated
with the world of the South, because both islands lacked manufacturing, au-
tochthonous markets, commercial fleets, the exclusive production of primary
materials (with the exception of the Cape of Corsica), low returns on labor,
lack of technical know-how, and economic dependency combined with po-
litical dependency. The case of Sicily is more complex, due to the interior du-
alism that characterized the decision to monoproduce grains and cheese by
the Val di Mazaro and the Val di Noto. Like Campania and certain Calabrian
niches that produced wine and silk, Messina, the mountain of Catania, and
Syracuse maintained high-quality agricultural and artisanal productions of oil
and wine, as well as wood and forged-iron furniture, and produced significant
63 ASP ND B. Bononia Spezzone 16N (10 September 1381).
64 ASP ND P. Rubeo 604 (1 February 1413): the Jew, Escam of Castello Caglari, witnessed the
signing.
65 ASP ND A. Aprea 812 (21 January 1456).
66 ASP ND G. Mazzapiede 838 (10 March 1420).