Duomo di Livorno

Chapter 1 examines the theoretical tools and institutional framework that the grand dukes had at their disposal when planning Livorno. Although contemporary theories of reason of s...

Chapter 7 shows how commercial crisis in Livorno, combined with debates over its distinctive institutions and problematic role in the policy process, helped introduce scientific po...

In the twilight of the Renaissance, the grand duke of Tuscany—a scion of the fabled Medici family of bankers—invited foreign merchants, artisans, and ship captains to settle in his...

Chapter 2 argues that endemic insecurity in the Mediterranean and the instability of religious boundaries conditioned the expansion of Livorno. The process of settling merchants in...

Chapter 6 offers a quantitative examination of the commercial development of Livorno, showing how it plugged local and regional exchange networks into the currents of global commer...

Chapter 5 examines the creation of the classic free port, which taxed only for commercial services. The latter half of the seventeenth century inaugurated an age of conscious exper...

Tuscany of the mid-seventeenth century was renowned for its luxury crafts and had one of the most vibrant scientific communities in Europe. The Medici family presided over a state ...

Chapter 8 situates Livorno amidst a larger picture of competition in the central Mediterranean. It analyzes the spread of free ports by considering the two axes along which Italian...