460 benjamin ravid
armenians. the most visible symbol of the presence of individuals from
the Germanic lands in the city of Venice was their combination residence
and storage place for merchandise, known as the Fondaco dei tedeschi;
the word fondaco constituted an italianized form of the arabic word fun-
duq, meaning storage space or warehouse from the Greek pandokion, lit-
erally a hotel, an institution with which the Venetians were familiar as a
result of their travels in the Muslim world.29 initially, in 1228, the German
merchants were given a fondaco in a building that originally had been
the public fondaco at san Bartolomeo, with space for around 100 to 120
merchants, along with their servants, porters, packers, sealers, and other
employees for a total of around 200 individuals.30 some of them formed
their own devotional scuole and obtained permission to use altars in
existing churches in the city. thus in 1413, the porters of the Fondaco dei
tedeschi received permission to utilize an altar in the church of san Bar-
tolomeo for functions in honor of their patron saint, and the ligadori held
their celebrations in the chapel of the sanctissima trinita of the church
of santi Giovanni e Paolo.31
some 40 years later, in 1268, the Venetians established a magistracy
known as the Visdomini del Fondaco dei tedeschi, whose function was
to supervise the regulations regarding the merchants in the fondaco, and
especially to assure that they were paying the appropriate taxes, using
the Venetian brokers (sensali) assigned to them, and selling only to Vene-
tians and not directly to foreigners. regulations issued in 1475 reasserted
that all German merchants were to reside in the fondaco with all their
merchandise, subject to a penalty of 50 ducats for lodging elsewhere.32
in 1479, since allegedly much fraud was committed to the detriment of
the customs revenue because the gate of the quay of the fondaco was open
for a great part of the night, it was ordered that it be closed at sunset and
not opened for anyone until the sounding of the Marangona bell. similar
regulations were issued for the gate of the fondaco itself, and penalties
were set for any violations. However, when in 1483 the merchants com-
plained that they were exposed to dangers when they came at night with
gold, silver, and valuable goods to the closed gate of the quay and could
29 For a description of the Venetian “warehouse-palace” in alexandria, see F. Lane, Ven-
ice: A Maritime Republic (Baltimore, 1973), p. 287.
30 the standard works on the Fondaco dei tedeschi remain G. thomas, Capitular des
deutschen Hauses in Venedig (Berlin, 1874); and H. simonsfeld, Der Fondaco dei Tedeschi in
Venedig, 2 vols (Berlin, 1887).
31 see Zannini, Venezia città aperta, p. 45.
32 see chambers and Pullan, eds., Venice: A Documentary History, pp. 328–29.