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Emphasis was placed on the crucial issue of
food provisioning in Foscarini's 'Ordini' ('Orders'). The government intended to reduce the economic
dependency of the island of Venice by strengthening its political links. Wheat
reserves turned out to be indispensable in feeding the population during
recurrent food shortages, and these reserves actually represented the primary
food resource for the military. Renovation and renewal did not take place only
through urban solutions: food provisioning policy served as a privileged
channel for declaring the superiority of Venetian justice, and functioned as a
negotiating ploy for appeasing the arrogant behaviour of the island's barons
and feudal nobility. They viewed this control of local resources as a
confirmation of their ability to dominate rural populations, which sanctioned
the separate nature of the ruling Venetian class. In the period stretching from
the 'Ordini' up to the war for Candia (1573-1645), there were a great many
entreaties from locals. The reports of
Provveditori Generali ,
from Marco
Loredan, Benedetto Moro, and Gerolamo Trevisan to Lorenzo Contarini, describe
the difficulty (and perhaps the impossibility) of finding an efficient solution
to this problem.
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