Introduction

Thus begins James Howell’s Survey of the Signorie of Venice. His tone places the work squarely in a long tradition of writing that contributed to the ‘Myth of Venice’. The longevity of the Republic – at the end of the 1600s it was the only Italian state that was largely immune to inter ference from the leading European powers – impressed the observer from the other side of the Channel. The cohesion of its territorial lands inspired widespread admiration, although its maritime and overseas possessions eventually came under unsustainable pressure. Its defence of the Stato da Mar against the Ottoman advance was dogged but ultimately unsuccessful (Arbel 2013). A period of volatility under the Cambrai League (1508−1516) temporarily undermined the stability of the Stato da Terra, but thereafter its boundaries remained intact for nearly three centuries.