ABSTRACT
A wealth of new information documenting the many connections linking Beolco and his affines to the Triumphanti and their affines over the preceding decades will be presented and analyzed for political and cultural strategies. A core of the attendees and members of Triumphante families had often acted in concert over the course of the post-Cambrai period, in which the Republic dealt with lingering devastation and faced an expensive new round of wars. In doing so, they expressed their preference for peace over war as providing the conditions for prosperity in both maritime commerce and mainland agriculture. Government records show that initially the state lottery was funded principally by a group of Spanish and Florentine investors that Sanudo would list as backers only several years later: Piero Ram or Rames, the consolo (representative) of the Catalan merchants in Venice; Gaspare Besalù of the papal banking family; and Ferigo dei Nerli of the Florentine banking family.
