Page 31 - 1

'Crisis', ‘decline’ and 'fall' of the Serenissima: remembering Venice as... 557

[…] on ne voyoit que corruption, négligence et péculat dans ses possessions
d’outre-mer. Les sujets grecs de la république étoient tellement vexés par les
injustices des gouverneurs vénitiens et les monopoles des marchands, qu’ils
regrettoient le joug des Turcs 58 .

The final two hundred years of the Serenissima’s history posed
problems for Sismondi: they simply did not fit his wider narrative. He
was presented with the teleological problem that has dominated the
history of the late Republic since its fall. The end of Venetian inde-
pendence was not the product of long decline: it was the direct conse-
quence of French Revolutionary armies. Reluctant to denounce the
architects of Venice’s fall, Sismondi could not assess Venice impar-
tially; instead, he looked for signs of decay and weakness to explain
its collapse. Sismondi – like many observers (including educated Ve-
netians) – attributed the blame for the current state of the peninsula
to its native population, not to its invaders; this was true even for Ven-
ice, which had, after all, retained its independence throughout the pe-
riod of so-called decadence. Sismondi, it should be noted, knew little
about this period. It is quite striking that he mentioned only two
sources in his notes. One of these was Laugier’s Histoire, which he
used selectively. For example, he followed Laugier in recognising that
the Venetian fleet maintained «son ancienne reputation» in its clashes
with the Turkish navy, but he did not follow Laugier’s account of the
1716 defence of Corfu, which demonstrated both the bravery of the
Venetian forces, and the continued loyalty of the auxiliaries from the
Stato da Mar. The other source Sismondi mentioned was the three fi-
nal volumes of the Storia civile by Sandi, dismissed as «pas lisibles» .
59
The comment seems to be code for the fact that Sismondi had not read
them. Had he done so, he would probably have offered a much more
even-handed assessment of the Serenissima’s neutrality, which Sandi
had explored at length. Venice’s policy of neutrality served the Repub-
lic well during the years between the Peace of Passarowitz and Bona-
parte’s invasion. But it was necessary to Sismondi’s interpretation to
vilify such a stance as symptomatic of Italians’ want of martial mas-
culinity, which permitted other European powers to carve up the pen-
insula. The allegedly craven position of the Venetians was highlighted
by the way, that, while the Republic «arma ses villes et ses forteresses,
et augmenta ses troupes de ligne pour se faire respecter ses voisins»,

58 Ibidem, p. 341.
59 Ibidem, p 342.

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