ABSTRACT
Quoted from G. Cozzi, Ildoge Nicold Contarini. Ricerche sdpatri~iato venexiano agli in& del Seicento (Venice, I g j 8), pp. 3 I 1-1 2.
Venice had recovered remarkably well. By 15 84, the Re-
public's finances, badly strained as they had been by the recent war effort, were once again on an even kee1.l Three years later, the foundation of the Banco di Rialto had restored confidence to the merchants' community, severely tried by the collapse of several private banks.2 In the I jgos, and down to 1603, anchorage-tax and customs receipts climbed to new height^,^ affording clear evidence of the resilience and enduring attraction of the old Adriatic port. The rich cargoes of spices, moreover, had returned to Venice as a result, both of Portugal's failure to keep the Atlantic route open, and of the revival of the traditional caravan routes in the L e ~ a n t . ~
The trade of Syria, [a Venetian consul could write from Aleppo in 1 j97] can match the trade of any European city, as many nations from many divers parts bring hither a vast array of very rich commodities, spices, silk, indigo, cotton, cloth made of wool, silk and gold, and infinite other things.
