venice and its minorities 457
they established in that same place the scuola of the Volta santo (Holy
Face), which at its height during the late 14th century and the earlier 15th
consisted, according to a 16th-century writer, of 600 members.20 in 1379
the Luccans erected on the side of the church, at their own expense, an
adequately sized chapel for their services, and in 1398 they acquired land
to build a new scuola and a ospizio (best rendered as a hostel, shelter, or
alms-house) for the poor. immigrants from Milan established their scuola
of san Giovanni Battista e sant’ambrogio in the church of the Frari in
1361.21 consisting at the time of around 300 members, it was only allowed
to meet twice a year in the chapel assigned to them, and at one time, a
“ruga dei Milanesi” existed in Venice.22 the Florentines, known especially
for their position in the wool industry, formed a universitas mercatorum;
sometime before 1409, they organized a scuola, and in 1435 the council of
ten allowed them to establish the compagnia di san Giovanni Battista
in the church of santi Giovanni e Paolo, which almost immediately was
transferred to the church of santa Maria dei Frari, where they possessed
their own altar and a burial space.23
two significant groups of immigrants came to Venice from the eastern
side of the adriatic. the first consisted of the dalmatians or Schiavoni
(slavonians), from what today is croatia, especially after the dalmatian
coast was taken over by Venice in 1420. these immigrants gave their name
to the riva dei schiavone along the Grand canal, just to the east of Piazza
san Marco. they engaged in a wide range of activities in Venice, includ-
ing especially those linked to the sea, serving as merchants, sailors, and
ship-builders in the arsenal and elsewhere. Many were poor and rowed
in the galleys or served as domestic servants. together with the albanians
and the Greeks, the dalmatians played a very important role in Venetian
military campaigns on the terraferma and throughout the stato da mar as
stratioti, armed mounted light cavalry troops, leading the senate to note
in 1524 that they were the main element of the Venetian power.24 some
dalmatian sailors, pointing out their military service to Venice and their
20 see Francesco sansovino, Venetia città nobilissima et singolare (Venice, 1663), cited
in Mola, La communità dei Lucchesi, p. 98.
21 see ortalli, “Per salute delle anime,” pp. 104–06.
22 see ortalli, “Per salute delle anime,” pp. 104, 109; and calabi, “Gli stranieri e la città,”
p. 915.
23 see ortalli, “Per salute delle anime,” pp. 107–08; and Zannini, Venezia città aperta,
pp. 73–74.
24 see Fedalto, “stranieri a Venezia e a Padova,” in Storia della cultura veneta, vol. 4:
Dalla Controriforma alla fine della Repubblica. Il Seicento, part 2, p. 262.