Petar Strunje (doctoral fellow, Università IUAV di Venezia/University of Zagreb)
Shortly after the 4th Ottoman–Venetian War (1570–1573), the changing political and economic circumstances led the Venetian Republic to institute a specialized system of trade with the Ottoman Empire following bilateral negotiations. This was backed with a series of infrastructural investments such as road and port building and the construction of customs offices, lazarettos (quarantine facilities) and the fondachi – warehouses, trade houses (bourse) and housing facilities all in one. All Muslims arriving on Venetian territories were constrained to stay in a fondaco. While being places of financial and social control, these buildings were also equipped with religious spaces, sanitary facilities, furniture and internal organization according to the Turkish custom. We will take a look at these specific solutions in the Venetian building tradition, reconstructing the debate and the translation process that led to their formation while highlighting the actors who were responsible for mediation between the commissioners (the Venetian Republic) and the users (Muslim traders) in this Mediterranean game of exchange.