Echoes of Myths: The Free Ports of Trieste and Venice from an Internal-Periphery Perspective between the 18th and 19th centuries.

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to explore the conjuncture of the Free Port institution within the Habsburg Empire, basing the historical and economic background on the works of Klemens Kaps. The framework is constituted by the internal-periphery approach of Hans-Heinrich Nolte, a development of the world-system analysis of Immanuel Wallerstein. The establishment of such an institution exemplified the spreading and emulation of the first of its kind: Livorno. Geocommercial changes in the Mediterranean Sea, protoindustrial developments, the rise of the mercantile class, Nation-State formation, and centralization - all hallmarks of the 18th and 19th centuries - can be comprehensively overviewed from the Free Ports. They offer a privileged perspective on the interlaced arrangements and remodeling of secular threads. The structure of the Habsburg Empire, with its several dominions forming a polycentric empire, tied with the expanding hegemony of northern merchants and countries, constitutes the political background. However, the Adriatic Sea and its winds of innovation and trade interacted with this framework. The cities of Trieste and Venice, with their own peculiar and unique stories, serve as focal points for these dynamic fluxes. In essence, this inquiry intends to unknot the myths surrounding cities, free ports, economic policies, and other underlying aspects concerning information. These narratives prove fundamental in elucidating specific features of the consequences of the internal-periphery approach, endeavoring to reconstruct not only the globalizing political-economic dimension but also the domestic one.