Handbook of Key Global Financial Markets, Institutions, and Infrastructure

Chapter 28

Venetian Finance, 1400–1797

L. Pezzolo

Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, Venezia, Italy

Outline

Revenues

Taxation

Taxpayers

Financial Needs

Public Debt

The Floating Debt

Glossary

Further Reading

Revenues

Like other early modern states, Venice drew most of her resources from taxation. Until the formation of the territorial state in the early fifteenth century, the Venetian state relied mostly on duties on trade and consumption. The change from the budget of a city to the budget of a great power is evident in Table 28.1. The conquest of the Italian mainland proved costly but allowed Venice to control the key land routes that linked the lagoon to her markets in central Europe. Thus, the territorial needs of the new state, encompassing ...