Page 101 - 1

The ‘backbone’ of the Serenissima: Venice and the trade with the Holy Roman... 627

was to be used exclusively for any trade with Germany, regardless of
the nationality of the trader. Thus, the old prohibition for Venetians to
trade with Germany was formally abolished. As this only legalised a
situation that had by then already existed de facto for a long time, this
was hardly a problem for the Germans. Important to them was another
clause of the decree. Only they were allowed to enjoy the privileges of
the Fondaco, while all other users had to trade without the toll reduc-
tions and other advantages.
Strong protests from the Emperor, also Duke of Tyrol, and the
Bishop of Trento followed. Both saw their subjects strongly discrim-
inated against as they had hitherto traded with the privileges via
the Fondaco. The Republic of Venice however withstood the protests
of its neighbours. It had deliberately opted for strengthening the
German nation in Venice. As the Grisolotti were traditionally active
in the local trade, the Venetian authorities presumably saw no great
problem in discriminating against these. The local trades of the Re-
public were not in a state of crisis but the long-distance trade over
the Alps in fact were, thus the latter were strengthened at the ex-
pense of the former.
Emboldened by this success, the German nation began a strong
campaign to enlarge its privileges from 1671 to 1675. Again, we cannot
highlight in detail the following procedures, which saw complex nego-
tiations and interactions over the next four years between the host
state and its German guest. Here, we can note the giving of some sub-
stantial bribes from the German nation to key actors on the Venetian
side. It would nevertheless be strongly exaggerated to see the favour-
able result for the German nation as having been achieved by corrup-
tion on the Venetian side. The Venetian state was finally convinced to
give substantial help to its German merchant guests as a deliberate
action to strengthen its long-distance trade via the Alps.
The following reforms were far-reaching. On 31 August 1675, the
Germans obtained a massive enlargement of their privileges.
1. The duty rate on goods exported via the Fondaco was reduced
by 20 % instead of the hitherto usual 10 %.
2. For imported goods, 2 % of the assessed value was deducted
from the actual duty to be paid. In fact, this often meant a dis-
count of well over 20 %.
3. Transit was approved for four years, so goods in transit only paid
duty on entry.
4. The customs duty could be paid within four months of the dec-
laration of the goods; all non-privileged users of the Fondaco had
to pay the duty directly upon declaration of the goods.

Mediterranea – ricerche storiche – Anno XIX – Dicembre 2022
ISSN 1824-3010 (stampa) ISSN 1828-230X (online)