the venetian economy 269
patricians and the economic choices that were developed in the 17th and
18th centuries.
Public FinanceIn order to sustain international trade, it was not enough to dispose of
abundant merchandise and to have clever merchants; it was also neces-
sary to support their activities with efficient crews and, above all, a system
of protection. Such efforts, however, required great sums of money. The
many wars Venice fought both at sea and on land exerted constant pres-
sure on the city’s finances. Annual state spending in terms of silver was
probably in the range of 45–50 tons in the 15th century and rose to 100
tons in the 17th, a sum that was never again equalled during the next cen-
tury.34 The responses varied: increased taxation, recourse to extraordinary
measures (sale of government offices and titles of nobility), and, above all,
the public debt via both voluntary and forced loans.
The Venetian state drew its financial resources first of all from indirect
taxes, that is to say, from those regarding the transit of goods, consump-
tion, and economic activities in general.35 The part of government rev-
enues relative to its domain (property and land rentals, minting rights
for coinage, etc.) was quite modest. In times of peace the budget covered
ordinary expenses, such as the salaries of communal officials and over-
seas administration, those of the soldiers and sailors of the fleet, and the
cost of maintaining the arsenal, as well as the interest payments on its
loans. Yet peace was a condition which Renaissance Venice experienced
only rarely. Open conflicts and patrol operations, brief but intense cam-
paigns against rebellious coastal centers, protection from raids, and the
need to escort commercial shipping all contributed to a quasi-perennial
state of emergency and military mobilization. Until the eve of the War of
Chioggia, however, Venetian finances were able to meet their needs with
relative efficiency. After that point, however, began an era of burdensome
wars which put a serious strain on the state budget.
34 Luciano Pezzolo, Una finanza d’ancien régime. La Repubblica veneta tra XV e XVIII
secolo (Naples, 2006), pp. 38–39.
35 This section is based on the fundamental work of Gino Luzzatto, “Introduzione”
to Gino Luzzatto, ed., I prestiti pubblici della Repubblica di Venezia (sec. XIII–XV) (Padua,
1929); and especially Reinhold C. Mueller, The Venetian Money Market. Banks, Panics, and
the Public Debt, 1200–1500 (Baltimore, 1997).