Governare il «nerbo di una marittima nazione». Istituzioni, pratiche mercantili e strumenti di conoscenza nella Venezia del Settecento

This article explores how early modern governments managed the increasing need for direction, control, and knowledge associated with the development of trade in the 18th century. Using the case study of the Republic of Venice and examining the documentation produced by the Cinque savi alla mercanzia and the Senate during the 1760s, the essay demonstrates that the Venetian government approached these challenges with a mixed strategy. As in the rest of Italy and Europe, traditional solutions were complemented by new experiments, both in involving the merchant community in the formulation of economic policy and in creating new tools for knowledge. In Venice, too, the inertia of governmental intervention resulted from negotiated practices and compromises with a complex web of overlapping institutions, interests, and powers.