I patrizi e il controllo del territorio: San Polo e la lotta al potere realtino nel Medioevo

The essay identifies the first families who settled in the San Polo district (sestiere) and more specifically in the area around the campo as a means to understand the political role of this sestiere in medieval Venice, before the “closure” of the Great Council in 1297. The game of territoriality, where large and wealthy families exploited their properties for their clientele ties, reached its apogee during the thirteenth century with the elections to the Great Council, where each sestiere expressed its own representation. With the help of the lists of the elected, one uncovers the identity of the most powerful families, comparing their names with the landowners in the San Polo area. Yet, the accentuated parceling out of the land in this area led to the arrival of new merchant families who settled in the area, resulting in a conflict between the wealthy families, the merchant bourgeoisie and the commoners’ party led by the Tiepolo family. The “closure” of the Great Council will put an end to the race to power by those families who managed to get into the sovereign council of Venice, but will leave the unsolved problem of the wealthy commoners who will attempt a coup in 1310 headed by Baiamonte Tiepolo, member of a family that had lost its patronage power based on control over “its” territory.