VENETIAN WATER MANAGEMENT AND EARLY MODERN SOVEREIGNTY
Jonathan REGIER | University of Venice
Jonathan Regier, the protagonist of the fourth and final meeting of the VIII cycle of seminars on Adriatic Humanism, presented a summary of the main findings achieved in the framework of the project he is developing together with Erasmo Castellani, focusing on the society of risk and the management of danger in early modern Venice.
In 1540, in a speech by Cristoforo Sabbadino, the greed of men was denounced, manifested in a series of engineering works that threatened the Venetian lagoon. For the city of Venice, which was “plunging toward its demise”, the environmental danger of the marshes became a political concern. The decision to divert the waters of the Po River toward the territory of Ferrara provoked papal discontent, sparking a philosophical debate. In the words of Marino Silvestri (1563), who supported the construction of a canal, there was no distinction between State and nature: Venice appeared as a living body with a tripartite soul.
Among the fiercest critics of the hydraulic project completed in 1604 was Nicolò Contarini, the 97th Doge of the Republic of Venice. The project of the canal, based on empirical grounds, seemed incoherent with nature in his view. In his 1576 treatise, De perfectione rerum, a different vision of reality emerged, centered on human agency in maintaining the natural state. Another figure who participated in the discussion was the theologian Paolo Sarpi. In the final part of his treatise, titled Dominio del mar Adriatico della serenissima Republica di Venetia, a consultation addressed to the Senate, the author spoke on the debate regarding the border between Venice and Ferrara, implementing a political ideology aimed not so much at expansion but at rebalancing. For Sarpi, the conservation of the environment and the preservation of the State became one and the same. One of the most intriguing aspects of the intervention, rich in insights, is particularly the political use of the concept of sustainability.
Thank you all for your participation. As we look forward to the new cycle, the Philelfiana team wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!