venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 153
Following the conquest of the entire Peloponnese in the 1680s, the
newly acquired province was entrusted to the senior governorship of a
Provveditore Generale, who resided at Napoli di Romania (Nauplion). The
peninsula was divided into four provinces (Romania, Acaja, Messenia, and
Laconia), with respective centers at Napoli di Romania, Patrasso, Nava-
rino, and Malvasia (Monemvasia).82 At this stage, the system of regional
organization had already become a normal pattern.
Unlike the governors of single territories, whose term of office was
normally two years, the provveditori generali remained in office for three
years, which further enhanced their power and authority. They gradu-
ally became the highest judicial authority in the areas entrusted to them,
and, to a certain extent, substituted for the Signory as a supreme judicial
instance to which local subjects could revert for help against misconduct
of local governors, a process that eventually led to the weakening of the
local governors’ authority over the inhabitants of the respective colonies.83
A similar tendency toward to a more integrated regional system, but
without the strong military traits encountered in other parts of the empire,
can be perceived in the development of Venice’s administration in Istria.84
The peninsula began to be regarded as a “province” in the late 16th cen-
tury, with the establishment in 1584 of the Podestà e Capitano of Cap-
odistria as head of the provincial court of second instance, with authority
over local governors who served in 16 (out of 18) other podesterie of the
peninsula (and from 1589, and also over that of the islands of Cherso and
Ossero).85 However, two other Istrian districts, that of Pinguente (Raspo)
and that of Pirano (the second town in order of importance) remained
subject to the Capitano of Raspo (at Pinguente), who was also respon-
sible for the peasant militias, for the forests, and during a few decades
until the 1660s–70s, for the colonization of uncultivated lands, mainly by
immigrants from Dalmatia. Like in other provinces, in times of war or
plague special provveditori were elected with extraordinary powers to deal
with the situation. Yet this general tendency of concentrating authority in
the hands of senior magistrates was here limited to certain spheres and
did not reach a comprehensive integration. Thus, for example, in the area
performed his tour of inspection in that island, leaving it to the Capitano delle Navi; see
William Miller, “The Ionian Islands under Venetian Rule,” English Historical Review (1903),
209–39, repr. in Miller, Essays on the Latin Orient, p. 214.
82 Manfroni, I colonizzatori italiani, 2:289–90.
83 Paladini, ‘Un caos che spaventa,’ pp. 36–38.
84 Ivetic, L’Istria moderna, p. 12.
85 Ibid., pp. 18, 36–37, 39–40, 42–44.