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638 Magnus Ressel

5. Conclusion

Was the traffic between Venice and Germany in the 18 century
th
still “somewhat the backbone” of the Republic of St. Mark? At least
this can be stated with some certainty: traffic between Venice and Ger-
many was at times, during this century, certainly contracting or at
least stagnating, but over the long term, growth was the overall ten-
dency. This certainly stabilised the economic fabric of the Republic. It
is, of course, difficult to estimate even roughly what the impact on the
other economic sectors of the Republic of Venice was. However, the
indices we have at our disposal speak for an overall healthy situation
in terms of traffic that was certainly in some way connected to the
solid trade over the Alps.
In 1786 the Venetian fleet was superior in volume to that of Trieste,
Livorno or Genoa; in the case of Livorno even very clearly superior. In
addition, the Venetian fleet continued to grow rapidly, reaching its
largest volume in over 200 years in 1794, with almost 400 long-dis-
tance merchant ships and a carrying capacity of almost 37,000 tons .
61
Some historians speak even of a fleet that surpassed in the last decade
of the Republic the number of 500 larger ships . The Trieste fleet,
62
which also had a large tonnage, consisted mostly of small vessels un-
suited to long-distance trade across the Adriatic. It seems to have been
used to connect Venice and Trieste, i.e. the Balkan markets, with Italy
and Central Europe via Venice. The Venetian fleet was not intensely
active in the maritime trade towards Hamburg, but was concentrated
on the Levant. Between Trieste and Hamburg, however, was strong
maritime trade (on Danish and Dutch ships), which speaks somewhat
for the weaker transalpine connections of this port. This fact also
points towards an overall situation in which Venice and Trieste were
less competitors, but far more served different functions within the
markets of the Adriatic and their continental hinterlands. Such a
sharing of tasks may have been to the advantage of both principal
cities of the Adriatic .
63
The overall favorable picture that Georgelin has drawn from the Ve-
netian trading situation in its last decades can thus be confirmed with
a look at the trading relations between Venice and Germany. Most

61 U. Tucci, La marina mercantile veneziana nel Settecento, «Bollettino dell'Istituto di
Storia della Società e dello Stato Veneziano», A. 2 (1960), pp. 155-200; J. Georgelin,
Venise cit., p. 80-98.
62 A. Tamaro, Storia di Trieste, Vol. 2, Stock, Roma, 1924, pp. 192-193.
63 M. Ressel, Von reichsstädtischen Kommissionären zu europäischen Unternehmern.
Die deutschen Händler in Venedig im 18. Jahrhundert, «Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und
Wirtschaftsgeschichte», A. 107, n. 2 (2020), pp. 167-168.

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