ABSTRACT
In Venice more than anywhere else in Italy the outside world arrived in the form of people with spoken or written accounts and it could be consumed indirectly through these portrayals. Those who fostered them had the opportunity to structure their alternative beliefs or unbelief accordingly, having recourse to images and concepts that provided the necessary materials for the most fashionable scepticism in Venice. In Venice he spent a fair amount of time in a spezieria in San Girolamo, where for want of anything better to do he devoted himself to discussions and writing lascivious letters. The claim of the specific nature of Venice and its freedom was made by none other than the patriciate and in general by those employed in the public services. The houses of those who worked from home were halfway between the public and private sectors.
