280 luciano pezzolo
of common Venetian weavers were not at all superior to those of their
colleagues in the terraferma.55
How, then, must we explain the grave difficulties Venice faced on the
international market? First, it must be clarified that decline in the Levant
was not immediate: in 1623 the Venetian presence was still significant,
and the volume of its exports was estimated at 2 million ducats, a sum
that was not far off late 16th-century levels.56 Even toward the end of the
18th century, Venetian ships continued to play an important role in trade
between the Ottoman ports.57 Yet there is no doubt that Venetian long-
distance commerce was hard hit by its “northern” competitors. It is likely
that they were able to beat the Venetians on the very terrain in which
the latter had founded their success in the later Middle Ages, particu-
larly in the ability to lower transaction costs and force competitors to pay
higher ones. While Venetian merchant ships were considered easy prey
for pirates and corsairs, the Dutch and, above all, the English were able to
ensure more effective protection for their ships. Consequently, insurance
rates to be paid for Venetian goods were higher than those applied to the
products transported on “northern” vessels. The favorable conditions that
Venetian operators had enjoyed in the Levantine markets disappeared
between the 16th and 17th centuries to the advantage of their more aggres-
sive and crafty competitors.58 Difficulties in trade affected the manufac-
turing sector, whose production was largely for export. In reality, the costs
of commercialization contributed significantly to the crisis of Venetian
trade. Since production costs were not easily reducible, it was in the costs
of intermediation that the commercial game had to be won. An adequate
comparison between countries’ economic policies ought to consider not
only production costs but also (and I would say, most importantly) those
of commercialization.
Thus, from the mid-17th century, Venice revealed itself to be quite
different with respect to the medieval city. Undoubtedly, long-distance
international commerce, which had made the city’s fortune, was much
55 Marcello Della Valentina, Operai, mezzadi, mercanti. Tessitori e industria della seta a
Venezia tra ’600 e ’700 (Padua, 2003), pp. 107–09.
56 Ugo Tucci, “Vita economica a Venezia nel primo Seicento,” in Galileo e la cultura
veneziana (Venice, 1995), p. 131.
57 Daniel Panzac, “International and Domestic Maritime Trade in the Ottoman Empire
During the Eighteenth Century,” International Journal of Middle East Studies 24 (1992),
197–98.
58 Luciano Pezzolo, “Violenza, costi di protezione e declino commerciale nell’Italia del
Seicento,” Rivista di storia economica 23 (2007), 111–24.