258 luciano pezzolo
significant, with the exception of the one caused by the plague of 1630.
Venice’s stability is even more marked from the perspective of its rank-
ing with respect to other Italian cities, behind only Naples (and Rome at
the end of the 18th century). For the entire period under consideration,
the city on the lagoon remained a fundamental pillar of the peninsula’s
economic system and fully participated in its different phases. It is worth-
while, though, to underline the importance of a comparison of Venice
within the wider European context, which demonstrates that Venice, like
the rest of the Mediterranean area, progressively lost ground in the early
modern period. The changes that occurred on the continent placed the
Serenissima in a peripheral position, despite its demographic consistency.
Thus, we have resistance on one side and decline on the other. They are
the two apparently opposing factors which, in the context of Venetian
history, become complementary and ultimately provide the interpretative
key for its economy.
A long historiographical tradition has explained the late medieval eco-
nomic success of Venice and, more generally, Italy as a result of its favor-
able geographic position connecting European markets with the East, a
particularly Italian entrepreneurial spirit, a superior technological skill
in commercial management and navigation, and, consequently, in the
higher productivity of its capital. The Italian comparative advantage also
laid in the continuity of commercial relations with the more advanced
Near East, which had been maintained even during the less dynamic peri-
ods of the early Middle Ages. Constant relations had allowed for a flour-
ishing exchange of technical know-how which ultimately gave Italians the
edge. In fact, the western economic recovery after the 11th century further
augmented the intermediary function of the peninsula’s ports. Growing
European demand for spices, dying materials, silk, and cotton, and, on
the part of the East, the continuous need for woolen cloths, slaves, and,
above all, precious metals provided constant fuel for the Italian economy.
However, it must be underlined that the achievement of a favorable posi-
tion in the eastern Mediterranean was also a product of military force. The
political and economic privileges enjoyed in Levantine ports by Venetian
and Genovese merchants—traditionally the main competitors—reflected
power relations which, at least until the arrival of the Ottomans, were
maintained by their respective fleets and campaigns of piracy.3 Beyond
connecting Levantine and European markets, Venetian and Genoese
3 Irene B. Katele, “Piracy in the Venetian State: The Dilemma of Maritime Defence in
the Fourteenth Century,” Speculum 63 (1988), 865–89.