470 benjamin ravid
substantial reconstruction, little of which was carried out before the end
of the republic.
although fellow Muslims, the few Persian merchants in Venice tried
to avoid living in the Fondaco dei turchi because of the enmity between
Persia and the ottoman empire, and they continued to reside in private
homes and inns. When in 1662, toward the end of the war of crete (1645–
69), the Venetian government ordered all the Muslims in the city to go to
live in the fondaco, the six Persian merchants still in Venice decided to
leave rather than obey. it had been accepted that the Persians also even-
tually came to possess their own fondaco in Venice. supposedly located in
a building on the Grand canal almost next to the Fondaco dei tedeschi, a
little further away from the rialto bridge toward cannaregio, the number
of storage areas contained in its building doubled between 1582 and 1740,
presumably by subdivision, and the building that had been described as
“dark, uncomfortable and very old” was torn down for hygienic reasons in
- However, the most recent scholarship claims that actually the build-
ing in question was not an official fondaco but, rather, had been owned by
private individuals who rented out space to Persians and others.55
additionally, ambassadors with their retinues, pilgrims on their way
to the Holy Land, merchants, artisans, casual visitors, and others came to
Venice not only from other states on the italian peninsula but also from
other european countries such as France, spain, england, the Low coun-
tries, Poland, Hungary, and romania, without in any way forming any per-
manent identifiable community.56
the Venetian sense of the “other” was also greatly enhanced by the
appearance in the city not only of Moors from Barbary but also of a Japa-
nese diplomatic mission that arrived in Venice in 1585 from Portugal. since
its members had expressed a desire to see Venice, the senate allocated up
to 1000 ducats for their expenses. they were received with special honor,
and during their brief stay their clothing, nature (qualità), and customs
were noted, and tintoretto was commissioned to paint them. in that same
year, an indian mission passed through Venice on its way to Padua. More
than 60 years later, in 1652, a chinese prime minister who had converted
to christianity arrived in Venice with another chinese, on their way to
55 this paragraph is based on Pedani, Venezia porta d’Oriente, p. 219.
56 see Fedalto, “stranieri a Venezia e a Padova,” pp. 265–71.