Splitski lazaret i trgovačka skala [The Venetian lazaretto and free port of Split]

The new political-economic situation after the Fourth Ottoman-Venetian War (Guerra di Cipro; 1570–1573) led to the establishment of a free port (porto franco) in Venetian Spalato (Split) as the main trade port between Venice and the Ottoman Empire. The political, economic, and commercial repercussions of the project had been the subject of a series of studies, but an encompassing art historical monograph was lacking up to this point. Considering that the project of the so-called Scala di Spalato was one of the central government commissions in the Stato da Mar of the late Cinquecento and early Seicento, and had both architectural and social implications, it is an unavoidable link in the study of Adriatic (architectural) exchange. The Scala di Spalato was conceived by Daniel Rodriga (Rodriguez), a Sephardi merchant from Bragança, Portugal, who petitioned the Venetian Senate in 1577 to allow him the building of a customs office and a lazaretto in the port of Split which would lead to the flourishing of both Split and Venice, if the Republic would allow the settlement of Sephardim in its territories. Only two years after commencing construction in 1580, Rodriga abandoned the project due to lack of funds, but the Venetian Board of Trade (Cinque Savi alla mercanzia) took it up in 1588, employing Rodriga as a diplomat and consultant who procured all necessary consent from the Ottoman side. As trade started coming in, the Iberian Sephardim were settled in Spalato and the Venetian Ghetto Vecchio, and were given a series of privileges to further bolster trade. Although the first building (Dogana vecchia) was opened for business in 1592, its first priore (administrator) Marco Barisano was appointed at the beginning of 1593. Construction did not cease in the meantime. In 1593, Bartolomeo Galese, proto of the Ufficio delle acque was sent from Venice to manage the construction site of the scala and the port, together with a new blueprint and wooden model. At the same time, construction began on a similar but larger building complex to the West which was finished before 1600. The plague of 1607 pointed out the sanitary shortcomings in the Lazaretto. Thus, Andrea Renier, provveditore di sanità and former Count of Split, instituted the 'Ordini da osservarsi nel Lazareto di Spalato' in 1610. The functions of the two building complexes were separated between the Customs office, the Lazaretto, and the Fondaco, and a new 'open warehouse with accommodation above' was built on the Riva next to the Western complex. Due to the implementation of new sanitary protocols and following the arrival of Persian silk merchants in Split, the Senate decided on a large expansion to the East, where engineer Costantino Cappi and proto Scipione Fredi in 1615–1616 built a small section for the apartment of the administrator and a large longitudinal Lazaretto enclosure. Further expansion started in 1625 under engineer Agostino Alberti and proto Scipione Fredi who added three additional Lazaretto sections to the East, thus finishing the Scala di Spalato in 1631. The construction site was the biggest one in the region, functioning as a beacon for builder and mason workshops that flocked to Split and would disperse through Dalmatia after the challenging project was finished. After its completion, the Scala di Spalato was a complex structure consisting of seven courtyard sections located by the sea on the southeastern edge of the Diocletian's palace. A careful analysis of archival sources reveals that the structure served a variety of functions that encompassed standard Venetian trade and hygienic customs regarding border crossing. From East to West, the Scala di Spalato comprised of the Lazzaretti followed by a Dogana and finishing with a Fondaco; the same model present in Venice itself in separate buildings was united here in direct sequence. As it predates the Fondaco dei Turchi in Venice, the Spalato example testifies to the formation of a special system for hosting Muslims in Venetian territories. Although its primary purpose wasn’t to benefit Split directly, the presence of intercontinental trade impacted different layers of the populace that benefited from it, which is especially evident in the flourishing of the Jewish community and the new lavish palaces of the townsfolk.