14 eric r. dursteler
“the glory of the ancient republic” became a cornerstone in the “Italian
nationalist cause.” This continued during the fascist era, which saw an
even tighter linkage of venetian culture and history to the regime’s politi-
cal and cultural program. One figure of note was the unabashedly nation-
alist historian Bruno Dudan, scion of a Dalmatian noble family, whose
1938 work Il dominio veneziano di levante, published by the Istituto nazi-
onale di cultura fascista, emphasized “the power of venetian Romanità.”
for Dudan and others in fascist Italy, the venetian past represented both
a model and “a justification for its colonial ambitions” in the Balkans.37
In contrast to the “imperialist historiography” of much fascist-era
scholarship, the work of the archivist, historian, and socialist politician,
Roberto Cessi—the most notable Italian scholar of venice in the inter-
and post-war years—adhered to a rigorously historicist methodology that
rejected all grand, overarching historiographical philosophies and ide-
ologies.38 Cessi, along with the great economic historian of venice Gino
Luzzatto, looms over the post-Molmenti period: His scholarly output over
a lengthy life included dozens of books and hundreds of articles spanning
the period from the late Roman empire to the resistance movement of his
own day. In addition, Cessi was active in a variety of historical publica-
tions and institutions and was known for his numerous exacting reviews.39
His most important work was the Storia della Repubblica di Venezia, pub-
lished in two volumes in 1944 and 1946 (and in a second, expanded edition
in 1968). As Cessi phrased it, the Storia represented the “the fruit” of a life
spent “in direct contact with an inexhaustible patrimony” contained in
the frari archive, where his career began in 1908.40
The book is rich with detail and suggestive in its interpretations and
analysis. It is also, like all of Cessi’s work, written in a style which is not
easily penetrated and is intended more for the scholar than the popu-
lar reading public. Indeed, this was at the core of Cessi’s historical “tem-
perament.” He was a scholar’s scholar, strongly opposed to works that
37 Tabet, “La ‘troisième venise,’ ” pp. 139, 146, 150, 167; filippo Maria Paladini, “velleità
e capitolazione della propaganda talassocratica veneziana (1935–1945),” Venetica 6 (2002),
149.
38 Tabet, “La ‘troisième venise,’ ” pp. 169–70; ernesto Sestan, “Roberto Cessi storico,”
Archivio veneto 121–122 (1969), 232.
39 Paolo Preto, “Cessi, Roberto,” in Dizionario biografico degli Italiani, vol. 24 (Rome,
1980), pp. 271; Sestan, “Roberto Cessi,” pp. 221, 232.
40 federico Seneca, “L’opera storica di Roberto Cessi,” Archivio storico italiano 128
(1970), 43.