42 elisabeth crouzet-pavan
dredging out of the canals, we must now resort to them every ten years.”49
Also, there was the accelerated siltation of the north basin, subjected to
the deleterious effects of an increase in swamps, freshwater, and masses
of salt-water plants where mosquitoes thrived.50 The result, around the
archipelago of Torcello, was a veritable wave of death.51
Thus, at the time of these dangers and the increased awareness of them,
the situation had changed considerably. The Venetian Signoria in the
early 16th century had at their disposal a significantly increased capac-
ity for intervention. The constitution of the territorial state had, in effect,
drastically turned upside down the key factors as well as the stakes of
the lagoon’s problem. It had become possible for Venetians to take action
further upstream to where the rivers led into the lagoon basin, so much so
that a considerable part of the council debates, terrain inspections, and an
abundant literature on hydrographic problems, all revolved around this
issue. But, continental expansion had also changed the economic balance
of Venice. For the Signoria, it became necessary to reconcile the inter-
ests of a city, whose fortunes depended on trade, with the interests of an
agricultural and artisinal terraferma state, victim of the chaos and flood-
ing of the capricious rivers.52 Attempts to change the course of the rivers
thus aroused difficulties and conflicts as these two contradictory demands
could not always be met exactly. The hydrographic issues created long-
lasting division among the councils; to simplify this division, one party
was for the port and the lagoon while the other party was for the hinter-
land, and so favorably inclined to agricultural development. How were
they to reconcile the development of the available swamplands at the
edge of the lagoon with the fragile balance of the water?
We suppose that public policy was impaired, delayed, or deviated, sub-
jected as it was to lobbying and multiple changes in direction. However,
such a finding should not obscure the most important fact: this public
policy could now be deployed, outside the basin, on the scale of the stato
di terra. Furthermore, all indications are that the knowledge of the area
had, thanks to the joint development of both practical and scientific cul-
tures, made remarkable progress. From then on, they would profit from
the experience of competent ship navigators, fishermen, and wise and
49 A. S. V., Senato, Terra, reg. 12, fol. 41r.
50 On changing the course of the Dese, see R. Cessi, “Lo sviluppo dell’interramento.”
51 Crouzet-Pavan, La mort lente de Torcello, pp. 326–35.
52 S. Ciriacono, “Scrittori d’idraulica,” pp. 491–512.