Florence, Pisa's neighbor on the Arno, was renowned for manufactures. The fine wool, silk cloths, golden brocades, jewelry, and metal work of Florence were imported into all European countries. The craft guilds were very strong there, and even the neighboring nobles, who wished to become citizens, had first to enroll themselves in some guild. It was from banking, however, that Florence gained most wealth. In the fifteenth century the city contained eighty great banking houses, in addition to numerous branches outside of Italy. With their commercial spirit the Florentines combined a remarkable taste for art and literature. Their city, whose population never exceeded seventy thousand, gave birth to some of the most illustrious poets, prose writers, architects, sculptors, and painters of medieval times. It was the Athens of Italy. [22]
GENOA
Genoa, located on the gulf of the same name, possessed a safe and spacious harbor. During the era of the crusades the city carried on a flourishing trade in both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. After the fall of the Latin Empire of Constantinople [23] the Genoese almost monopolized Oriental commerce along the Black Sea route. The closing of this route by the Ottoman Turks was a heavy blow to their prosperity, which also suffered from the active competition of Venice.
SITUATION OF VENICE
Almost alone among Italian cities Venice was not of Roman origin. Its beginning is traced back to the period of barbarian inroads, when fugitives from the mainland sought a new home on the islands at the head of the Adriatic. [24] These islands, which lie about five miles from the coast, are protected from the outer sea by a long sand bar. They are little more than mud-banks, barely rising above the shallow water of the lagoons. The oozy soil afforded no support for buildings, except when strengthened by piles; there was scarcely any land fit for farming or cattle-raising; and the only drinking water had to be stored from the rainfall. Yet on this unpromising site arose one of the most splendid of European cities.
VENETIAN COMMERCE
The early inhabitants of Venice got their living from the sale of sea salt and fish, two commodities for which a constant demand existed in the Middle Ages. Large quantities of salt were needed for preserving meat in the winter months, while fish was eaten by all Christians on the numerous fast days and in Lent. The Venetians exchanged these commodities for the productions of the mainland and so built up a thriving trade. From fishermen they became merchants, with commercial relations which gradually extended to the Orient. The crusades vastly increased the wealth of Venice, for she provided the ships in which troops and supplies went to the Holy Land and she secured the largest share of the new eastern trade. Venice became the great emporium of the Mediterranean. As a commercial center the city was the successor of ancient Tyre, Carthage, Athens, and Alexandria.
[Illustration: VENICE AND THE GRAND CANAL]
[Illustration: THE CAMPANILE AND DOGE'S PALACE, VENICE The famous Campanile or bell tower of St. Mark's Cathedral collapsed in 1902 A.D. A new tower, faithfully copying the old monument, was completed nine years later. The Doge's Palace, a magnificent structure of brick and marble, is especially remarkable for the graceful arched colonnades forming the two lower stories. The blank walls of the upper story are broken by a few large and richly ornamented windows.]