50 alfredo viggiano
sovereign body but also put its “sacral” foundations in doubt, promoted
a secularization of the political sphere through the formation of a still
very rudimentary “public opinion,” enlarged the sphere of knowledge and
sociability, and favored new modes of participating in political conflict
and adhering to the same for individuals and segments of the population
which had until then been excluded. The Interdict affair was most signifi-
cant in this transformation.5
Certainly, a natural inclination for curiosity and a taste for gossip rein-
forced such tensions. But the conflict between publicity and secrecy char-
acterized the emergence of new forms of political participation/consensus,
in which new protagonists appeared as mediators between the different
spheres of power and knowledge both inside and outside the city: gazet-
teers, adventurers, and travelers who transcended the categories within
the set division of distinct and separate classes of traditional society.6
I aim to provide some indications as to the ways in which these diverse
levels of the construction of politics became intertwined in three eras of
Venetian history. The first, running from the beginning of the 15th century
up to the Italian wars (the 1530s), can be interpreted as a phase of intense
experimentation. The law and its interpretation, as applied by magistra-
cies born in the medieval city-state, played a fundamental role in the rela-
tions within a political class that was still a work in progress, as well as
between this class and the centers of the stato da terra and stato da mar
of recent acquisition. The Italian wars and the Venice’s political and mili-
tary defeat would offer the chance for a first rethinking of the criteria of
legitimation which, until that time, had been considered vital. The role
of the magistrates of the Avogaria appears crucial for understanding the
complex transformations to which we have alluded.
The second phase was inaugurated by the Council of Trent and contin-
ued into the early 17th century. This period witnessed a deepening of the
divisions within the nobility that had already become manifest by the late
15th century. In the long existence of the Baroque state, the relationship
between the civil and ecclesiastical spheres acquired decisive importance.
The Council of Trent and the marginalization of the Venetian state in an
international context would impose new forms of discipline and new
manifestations of conformism; but it would also nurture a widespread
5 Filippo de Vivo, Information and Communication in Venice: Rethinking Early Modern
Politics (Oxford, 2007).
6 Mario Infelise, Prima dei giornali. Alle origini della pubblica informazione (Rome-Bari,
2005).