Republic of Genoa: Map & History

History

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city of Genoa was invaded by Germanic tribes. The Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian the Great captured the city in 537 under General Belisarius as part of the Renovatio imperii. About 643, Genoa and other Ligurian cities were captured by the Lombard Kingdom under the King Rothari. In 773 the Kingdom was annexed by the Frankish Empire; the first Carolingian count of Genoa was Ademarus, who was given the title praefectus civitatis Genuensis. During this time and in the following century Genoa was little more than a small centre, slowly building its merchant fleet, which was to become the leading commercial carrier of the Western Mediterranean.

Government

The history of Genoa, of the Genoese and of the republic that held its fate for a long time, but also of the governments that gradually took turns leading the city, to reach the time of the Doges, is traceable through the work of historians who have continued the storytelling work begun at the end of the 11th century by Caffaro Di Caschifellone (historian and himself municipal consul) with the "Annales ianuenses".

The republic was substantially democratic in shape, while those of the Podestàs and the Captains of the people strongly restored the often conflicting relationship between the authority and the freedom. The perpetual doges, on the other hand, proclaimed themselves popular, even though sometimes crossing the oligarchy; finally the fifth republic was institutionally aristocratic.

Economy

Genoese traders bought salt – from Hyères near Toulon in French Provence, from Cagliari in Sardinia, Tortosa in Iberia, and from other areas in the Black Sea, North Africa, Cyprus, Crete, and Ibiza – and made salami. They then sold salami in southern Italy for raw silk, which was sold in Lucca for fabrics, which were then sold to Lyon. Mule caravans from Genoa carried salt directly to Piacenza, where it was transferred to river barges and transported down the Po to Parma, and other Po Valley cities such as Reggio and Bologna. Along these trade routes, Genoa competed with Venice for salt and for other cargoes, such as salami, prosciutto, cheese, textiles and spices.