venice’s maritime empire in the early modern period 209
Palamidi, which was intended to protect Napoli di Romania, the capital of
the newly conquered Regno di Morea, was built in 1711–13.321
Fortification works involved great efforts on the part of the colonial
subjects, not only in the fiscal sphere but also in actual physical involve-
ment, since all able-bodied peasants and part of the urban population
had to contribute a pre-established number of working days on the forti-
fications (or pay a tax instead).322 Istria was an exception in this sphere,
because in the lack of any serious Ottoman menace in this region, no
major works of fortification were carried out there.
Fortification was very costly and could only partly be covered by local
resources of the colonies. On several occasions it was under pressure on
the part of local elites that the Republic embarked on such projects, ini-
tiatives that were sometimes accompanied by a disposition to contribute
considerable resources of their own. This was the case in Cyprus in the
1560s. The names of Nicosia’s bastions still bear the names of the 16th-
century contributors. Yet new fortifications were not always a sufficiently
good defense, as demonstrated in the case of Nicosia, as well as in that
of the Palamidi fortress at Nauplion, captured, most probably by treason,
in 1715, shortly after its completion. The big fortification projects proved
to be effective only in Venice’s Adriatic and Ionian colonies—twice in
Corfu (in 1537 and in 1716), and several times in various Dalmatian towns.
Cerigo’s castle may have also been effective in providing shelter to local
inhabitants and Venetian defenders.
However, during peacetime, the result of these works was often an
increased separation between the rulers, who generally resided in the
fortified compound, and the ruled, who often had to content themselves
with the unfortified or only partly fortified borghi. This separation was all
the more marked in those places, such as Malvasia, Napoli di Romania,
Zante, and the new fortress in Corfu, which were built high above the
town that they were meant to protect. This separation became a matter
of life and death when the enemy invaded the colony. In such moments,
most of the inhabitants of these towns were unable to find shelter in the
fortress, or were even prevented from doing so, and consequently had
little chance of resisting foreign invasions or fleeing from their disastrous
321 Timothy E. Gregory, Nauplion (Athens, 1980), pp. 12–14, 67–71; Dionysios Hatzopoulos,
La dernière guerre entre la République de Venise et l’Empire ottoman, 1714–1718 (Montreal,
1999), p. 17.
322 Arbel, “Cypriot Population,” pp. 209–10; Yotopolou-Sisilianou, ed., Πρεσβείες, p. 293;
Pagratis, ed., Οι εκθέσεις, p. 229.