Relazioni degli ambasciatori Veneti al senato

Abstract

These editions of reports sent back by Venetian ambassadors to the Great Council of the Republic in the sixteenth century were edited by Eugenio Albèri (1807–78) and published between 1839 and 1863. As Albèri notes in his preface, a law of 1296 decreed that all embassies and legations should submit a written report to the Council at the end of their mission, and the surviving records provide an invaluable resource for both political and economic historians. The fifteen volumes are divided into three series, on relations with European states outside Italy; with other Italian states; and with the Ottoman Empire. Volume 11 (Volume 5 of the second series), published in 1858, contains reports on the other Italian states, mostly in the second half of the sixteenth century. Two-thirds of the documents relate to the duchy of Savoy, highlighting the importance of this enclave between Italy and France.