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572 Daniele Andreozzi

On one hand, the Venetian Serenissima Republic considered the
presence of military ships belonging to other powers in a part of the
Adriatic it considered under its control to be illegitimate and, on the
other, it subjected the Adriatic trading routes to mercantile policies,
considering trade which did not directly link production sites with
Venice as contraband and seeking to regulate access to the Po River,
as gateway to the Po valley markets, and the Adige River, as a cross-
Alpine route. In this way it aimed to safeguard Venice’s role as North
Adriatic monopolistic hub. From at least the mid-17th century,
however, this situation was in profound transformation. Venice’s ability
to control the sea was significantly weakened and an important role in
Adriatic trade was being played by the small and medium sized Adriatic
8
and Mediterranean ports .
Within the framework of changes in route and goods hierarchies, the
marine communities of these ports breathed life into a dense trading
network characterised by cabotage and triangular trade. To the north,
the Po and Adige estuaries were the linchpins in this network. Heavy
and basic goods - above all food and agricultural products such as
cereals and oil - guided the logic of this trade. In this context, traders
fostered Trieste’s growth, bringing it into their circuits also in an
attempt to protect themselves from the Serenissima Republic’s legal
claims. They also espoused the trading cause and worked for the
declaration of a free trade port at the Viennese Hapsburg court and
bureaucracy. One of the most important results of the edicts issued in
1717 and 1719 by Charles VI was precisely to give these sea traders
the chance to defend themselves against the trading constraints
imposed by Venice. Trieste became the port of choice on these circuits.
The centre stage players on these sea trading routes and the men and
women who came to Trieste to assess the opportunities offered by the
free port promoted the growth of the port and city. Their role was
especially important both in the initial, still fluid and unstable phases
and in the 1730s and 40s when the Vienna court lost interest in the
city, focusing its attention on the European wars it was embroiled in.
This meant that the roots of Trieste’s growth in this period were
especially in the Adriatic and the Mediterranean space. However, contacts

8 M. Costantini, “Sottovento”. I traffici veneziani con la sponda occidentale del basso
e medio Adriatico, «Proposte e ricerche», 49 (2002), pp. 7-22; S. Ciriacono, Olio ed ebrei
nella Repubblica veneta del ‘700, Deputazione di storia patria, Venezia, 1975; D. Andre-
ozzi, «Qual generatione di Fiera si pensi di introdurre». Spazi dei commerci e pratiche dei
mercanti a Trieste e nel Litorale austriaco nei primi decenni del Settecento, in D. Andreozzi,
L. Panariti, C. Zaccaria (eds.), Acque, terre e spazi di mercanti: Istituzioni, gerarchie e pra-
tiche dello scambio dall’età antica alla modernità, Trieste, 2009, pp. 113-139.

Mediterranea - ricerche storiche - Anno XV - Dicembre 2018 n.44
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)