468 benjamin ravid
of the albanian and Bosnian (i.e., european) ottoman Muslims with their
merchandise, while the asiatic turks lived in other inns and in private
homes, to the constant concern of the Venetian government for both reli-
gious reasons and also on account of the hostile attitude of the populace
toward the turks.
an anonymous memorandum addressed to the Venetian government
in 1602, which might have only constituted a literary presentation in one
of the Venetian academies,51 urged that the ottomans not be given a fon-
daco of their own. among other things, it claimed that the concentration
of many ottomans in one place would be very dangerous and lead to the
erection of mosques and to the worship of Mohammed, causing greater
scandal than that provoked by the Jews and the Protestant Germans. also,
the memorandum asserted that the pernicious innovation of a fondaco
would further the political aims of the turks who, headed by a sultan and
possessing great naval power, were in a position to harm Venice more
than were the Jews, who were without any head or prince and were every-
where repressed.
eventually, the former osteria passed into the hands of new owners,
who in June 1620 gave the Littini notice that they had either to evict the
turks from the premises or else pay a much higher annual rent. the Lit-
tini turned to the cinque savii alla Mercanzia. noting that serious trou-
bles were occurring daily because many ottomans lived spread out in the
city in private homes, the cinque savii recommended instead a suitable
house on the Grand canal at san Giacomo dell’orio, near the church of
san stae (st. eustachius), far removed from the centers of rialto and san
Marco, that the government had bought in 1381 for niccolò d’este, the
Marquis of Ferrara.
in March 1621, the college approved the report of the cinque savii, who
had proposed a long set of regulations establishing the procedure for the
preparation of a fondaco for the ottomans and its subsequent administra-
tion. they included extensive construction intended to limit access to the
outside world to authorized doors that were to be locked from the outside
with a secure key at sunset and opened again at sunrise as well as minimal
visibility into and out of the fondaco, all of which had to be undertaken
without any expense to the government before any turks could move in.
the guards, who were to be permanently stationed at each door, were
not to allow either women or christian men in at any time. Further very
51 see a. sagredo and F. Berchet, Il Fondaco dei Turchi in Venezia (Milan, 1860), p. 28.