Rome and mercantile trade in the 14th-century Mediterranean

CICLO: Rome, Italy, and the Mediterranean
RELATORE: Alma Poloni
DATE: Thursday, September 10, 6:00 PM

The business correspondence of the network founded by the Prato merchant Francesco Datini (c. 1335–1410) is a unique source worldwide, offering a privileged perspective on Mediterranean trade in the Late Middle Ages. The tens of thousands of surviving letters describe a dense web of contacts stretching from North Africa to England. Within this vast commercial network, Rome acquired a role of increasing importance starting in the 1380s, primarily due to the return of the, or rather, a papal court to the city. This lecture will open a window onto this world teeming with people and goods. It will focus not only on the routes, the commercial and financial hubs, and the commodities in circulation, but also, and above all, on the "human side": the relationships between the people who formed the network, their ambitions, their anxieties, their conflicts, and their ways of thinking and expressing themselves. Particular attention will be given to Rome and its full integration into the network starting from the final decades of the 14th century.

Alma Poloni is Full Professor of Medieval History at the University of Pisa. Her work has focused particularly on Italian communal cities, with a specific interest in the interconnections between economic change, social mobility, and political transformation. In recent years, her research has concentrated on the economic and social shifts following the plague epidemic of the mid-14th century. She is the author of numerous specialized publications and several monographs. Her latest book, co-authored with Alessio Fiore, is L’economia medievale. Un profilo storico (secoli V-XV) (Carocci, Rome 2024).