Proposal for the 3rd MMHN Conference
Diego Santaliana (Venice)
Venetian presence in Turkey
Since the Middle Ages Venetian ships were present in the Black Sea and the Eastern
Mediterranean. This meant that Venetian merchants were hosted in hans and
caravanserays along the trade roads, had their own fondacos, and sometimes even
quarters and castles, in far off cities. Sometimes they lived in buildings that already
existed and sometimes they built their own houses and even ports and harbour to help
their trade. Starting from this statement, I tried to discover which were the ports and
cities most liked by Venetians in the lands of modern Turkey, both in the Middle Ages
and in the Modern Age. Then, together with the photographer F. M. Demirhan I began
to go on the places to see if ruins remained from past ages, on comparing what the
ancient documents tell us and the places as they are now. I want to present here the first
results of this research.
CV
Diego Sanataliana
Venice
He attended courses on Ottoman History at METU and worked in Turkey as business
developer on behalf of the “Distretto Veneto dei Beni Culturali” which represents a
cluster of Venetian companies and Universities working on restoration and promotion
of Cultural Heritage. Within this task he organised events in Venice and Ankara,
fostered relationships and developed projects between Italian and Turkish Institutions.
He shows a great interest for Venetian-Ottoman history and he is member of the
Association of Historical Studies Muda di Levante. He cooperates with «Muda di
Levante» and with Marco Polo System GEIE developing projects on the Venetian
Heritage in the Mediterranean.