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'Crisis', ‘decline’ and 'fall' of the Serenissima: remembering Venice as... 555

In una sì spiacevole crisi la Repubblica Veneta credette di dover seguitare
quell’antico metodo, al quale avea dovuta fin a quel momento la sua sicurezza,
e la sua tranquillità. Non volle urtare, nè favorire alcuna Potenza, credendo di
preservarsi, tutte egualmente accarezzando 53 .

4. Venice’s decline and fall in the works of Francophone historians

Let me turn now to the authors who wrote in French. The first work
I wish to consider is by Simonde de Sismondi (1773-1842). Sismondi’s
Histoire des républiques italiennes du Moyen Âge first appeared in
press Zurich in eight volumes 1807 to 1809 . Unlike the other au-
54
thors I discuss, Sismondi’s extensive treatment of Venice was inserted
into a wider framework: his study of the Italian republics. Throughout
the 7,000 pages of the Histoire, the Genevan economist stressed the
distinctiveness of Venice from other Italian comuni in part because of
its tendency to look to the sea rather than the mainland, but princi-
pally because of its governo stretto, which permitted stability, internal
order, and the longevity of the Republic. While Sismondi’s version of
the rise of Venice, with its emphasis on the pivotal rôle of the crusades
and its conflict with other Italian maritime republics differed little from
other standard accounts, his description of Venice’s decline was part
of his scathing attack on all Italians, which dominated the conclusion
of the Histoire. Italy’s decline was a consequence of post-Tridentine
Catholicism, an emphasis on rote learning, which stressed «la mé-
moire seule» rather than originality of thought. (He never explained
how this system gave rise to Galileo, Galvani, Beccaria, Vico, or Mu-
ratori.) The adoption of secretive and arbitrary legal systems – neither
unique to the peninsula nor new – failed to attach Italians to their
states. Above all, Spanish hegemony was disastrous for the inhabit-
ants of the peninsula. The Moorish influence on Spanish culture
brought with it an exaggerated and perverted notion of male honour,
manifest in vengeance and vendetta. Rather than emphasising forms
of government, Sismondi, in a manner typical of early-nineteenth-cen-
tury liberal thought, sought to explain the marginalisation of all of
Italy’s states through a cocktail of cultural, religious, racial, and geo-
graphical determinism.

53 V. Barzoni, Rivoluzioni della Repubblica veneta cit., p. 31.
54 J.C.L.S. de Sismondi, Histoire des républiques italiennes du moyen âge, 8 vols,
Henri Gessner, Zurich, 1807-1809; J.C.L.S. de Sismondi, Histoire des républiques ita-
liennes du moyen âge, 16 vols, vols 1-8, Henri Nicolle, Paris, 1809, vols 9-16, Treuttel
et Würtz, Paris, 1809-1816; J.C.L.S. de Sismondi , Histoire des français, 18 vols, Treut-
tel et Würtz, Paris, 1821-44.

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