The Shores of the Adriatic Part 14

The Castelli were built as defences against Turkish raids. Starting from Trau the first is Castel Papali; Castelnuovo, Castel Vecchio, Castel Vitturi, Castel Cambio, and Castel Abbadessa follow, and Castel Sucurac is the nearest to Spalato and Clissa. These are the Sette Castelli, but there are several others--Stafileo, Andreis, Cega, Quarco, and Dragazzo.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A QUAINT COSTUME, TRAu]

Castel Papali, or Nehaj, is three-quarters of an hour from Trau, and was built in 1548 by Lodovico and Giovanni Celio. It was then called Celio or Lodi. In 1680 it pa.s.sed to the family of Francesco Papali, the Celi having failed of heirs male. It now belongs to Count Fanfogna-Garagnin of Trau.

Castel Stafileo was built in 1500 by Stefano Stafileo, of a family established in Trau coming from Candia. He separated it from the mainland, and it was entered by a drawbridge; the ditch is now filled up. The concession is dated 1484.

Castel Dragazzo, or Dracic, founded by Matteo Dragazzo in 1543, on a concession from the Venetian senate, was never finished, in consequence of his death. The material of the walls was used to construct the port of Castelnuovo. The Dragazzi appear in 1389. They were originally butchers, but for about three centuries gave the country men of intellect and valour.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE QUAY, CASTEL VECCHIO

_To face page 287_]

Castel Quarco "in Bile," of which very little is left, was built in 1588 by Giovanni Quarco with a walled courtyard. The site was granted to Matteo Dragazzo, who ceded it to Quarco.

The church at Castelnuovo inherited with the t.i.tle of S. Pietro the rights of S. Pietro di Klobucac, a little inland on the slope of the hill (where remains of a monastery or palace of the ninth to the eleventh century have been found). It was demolished in 1420. According to tradition some of the objects there preserved came from the older church. The _pala_ of the high-altar, a panel painting on gesso ground, the Virgin and Child seated, on the right S. Peter with the keys, on the left S. John the Baptist with scroll "Ecce Agnus Dei," half-length, is one thing. The inscriptions are in Roman capitals. Also two Romanesque-looking bronze candlesticks. The Castello has a square tower, which has lost the balcony which surrounded it at the height of the first floor. In the piazza is the Loggia, rebuilt in 1795, as an inscription states. It was burnt in 1523 together with most of the houses. The _provveditore_ granted materials for rebuilding, but it was again burnt in 1575. Until recently this Castello belonged to the Cippico. It was the birthplace of the historian Katalinic, born here in 1779.

Castel Vecchio was founded in 1481 by Coriola.n.u.s Cippico, with booty gained in the war against Mahomet II. in 1471, as is testified by the inscription over the gate, "Triremis ex manubiis Asiaticis hanc villam aedificavit," with date 1481. Tradition says that a house on the left of the eastern gate with a walled courtyard was also his work. He died here in 1493, leaving it to his sons Alvise, bishop of Famagosta, and Zuanne, archbishop of Zara. Over a door in the courtyard is the Cippico crest with the motto "Omnia exalto." Opposite is a chapel dedicated to S.

Joseph and the Virgin, built by Coriola.n.u.s's son Laelius, according to the inscription, with the incredibly late date of 1695. In 1480 Nicol Pisani, count of Trau, received a "ducale" from Giovanni Mocenigo, in which Cippico was promised munitions of war and men-at-arms to preserve the Castello, and, by the a.s.surance of security, to attract cultivators to the fertile country "for greater public usefulness." This seems to support Karaman's statement that the Castello was founded in 1476. An inscription of 1492 above the arch between the court and main street records its ruin by fire and restoration by the senate. In 1500 the Venetian Government completed Cippico's work at a cost of 500 ducats. It was called Castel Vecchio because it was the first of the Castelli founded.

Castel Vitturi, built in 1487 by Girolamo and Nicol Vitturi of Trau, by concession from Count Carlo di Pesaro, is now without drawbridge or ditch. The founder of the family, Lampridio, son of Giacomo Vitturi, a Venetian n.o.ble, came to Trau in 1213, and married Bona Cega. The Castello is square, with two gates, one to the sea, and the other to the north, apparently entirely rebuilt in 1563, except the north side, which still has two turrets flanking the gate pierced for musketry, and traces of the holes through which the chains of the drawbridge pa.s.sed, also of a balcony which was probably for defence.

The next one is Castel Rosani (Ruinac), built in 1482 by Michele Rosani, under a concession from Count Francesco Ferro. The village was surrounded with walls; but, fearing that they would not be able to beat off the Turks, the inhabitants dismantled them, and sought refuge in Castel Vitturi, which was larger and better fortified. It is still in good preservation, however, with its little church, which contains the tomb of the unfortunate lovers whose story has been told by Marco di Casotti.

Castel Cambio (Kambelovac) was built in 1566 by Francesco Cambi of Spalato. It is still partly preserved. At one time it formed one parish with the adjacent Castel Abbadessa (Gomilica). It belonged to the lords.h.i.+p of Sucurac, which embraced nine villages. The nuns in the sixteenth century erected the Castello on an island, and here the abbesses were wont to come for the summer; hence the name. The nuns built the little church at the entrance of the village on the right of the road; it was dedicated to SS. Cosmo and Damian, and consecrated by a.s.salone, archbishop of Spalato, 1159-1160. It is suggested that the Slav name Gomilica ("ma.s.ses of masonry") comes from the fact that the newer houses were built with the ruins of the village of Kozice, destroyed by the Turks.

Castel Sucurac is the nearest of the Castelli to Spalato, the first to which the Turks would come, descending from Clissa. The position and the Roman remains found here are held to prove that it was a suburb of Salona. It took its name from S. Giorgio, a little chapel upon the hill, which in Croat is called Sut Juraj, corrupted into Sucuraj. The church was built by the great zupan Miroslav; and the ruined walls which surround the present chapel, showing a foot above the soil, are supposed to be the remains of that church, since there are amongst them a few pieces of carved stone. The most ancient Croat doc.u.ment existing is a deed of gift of this place and church to the Archbishop of Spalato, Pietro III., by the King Trpimir, in 837, in exchange for 11 given by the archbishop for the construction of the church and monastery of S.

Peter, between the ruins of Salona and the fortress of Klis. In 1076 King Zvonimir confirmed the gift. One of the finest buildings in the village is the palace of the archbishop, dated 1488 by an inscription over the door. The Castello and walls round the village were built by Andrea Gualdo, archbishop in 1392, by concession of Valchio, ban of Croatia. In 1489 Archbishop Bartolommeo Averoldo of Brescia, built a second wall. In 1503 it was further strengthened; but two years later the Turks burnt it. In 1646, after being repulsed from Spalato, they attacked Sucurac again, but were unsuccessful. The first summer palace of the archbishops was in Vranjic; it was destroyed by the Venetian fleet in 1204.

Castel Cega was built by Andrea di Celio Cega in 1487, and rebuilt by Paolo Andreis. The Celio were an ancient family of Trau, said to date from Roman times, and had many branches, one of which (extinct in 1511) was called Celio-Morte, because a member of it had the habit of threatening opponents with death, and used a skull for his crest.

The following privileges were enjoyed by the n.o.bles of the Castelli, or founders of the towns. The right to special contributions from the country people, and the _jus patronato_ of the churches. The sacristan, without their a.s.sent, could not give the third signal of the Ma.s.s, nor of Vespers on festival days, a usage which is still observed at Castel Cambio and Castel Vitturi. In the church they had their own benches, and the s.p.a.ce they occupied could not be taken by any one else, not even for the erection of new altars. When the _provveditore_ was present at solemn functions a bench was placed for him and the "padroni," as well as for the authorities of the Castelli and the colonel of the district.

They were the first to receive incense after the priest at Ma.s.s; and there were numerous other similar customs. If a child of the "padrone"

died, all the bells rang; if an adult, they were clappered; and all the confraternities had to be present at the funeral, whether in the village, at Spalato, or at Trau. The "padrone" was the medium of communication between the higher authorities and the village headman, who had to close the gates at night, and take him the key. He received the tolls paid for living in the village; and there was a kind of _corvee_ of forced work. Moreover, he had the right to buy the houses of those who sold them, at a third less than their real value, to sell again to fresh inhabitants. The oil-mills belonged to him, and a fifth of the produce was divided between him and the customs. If the olives were taken elsewhere a tenth of the oil was paid to him all the same.

Wine-presses were also his property; the oven, too, and a proportion of the wine made and bread baked went to him. Nothing could be bought or sold without his license. He received all the tongues of oxen killed, and the heads of pigs. He covered the cistern in time of drought, and water could only be drawn when he took the cover off. The streets were ordered to be kept clean, and slops taken to the sea, not thrown out of the window! At Christmas and Easter the country people still bring presents to their lords.

The proverb "Wine of the Castelli, honey of Solta, and milk of Bua" is still justified; and agents for wine merchants, especially French, bargain for the wines before the grapes are ripe. Enormous hogsheads are s.h.i.+pped on the boats, and the trans.h.i.+pping them is often a dangerous business, if we may judge from our own experiences. At Castel Vecchio we were nearly spectators of a serious accident when a cord slipped, and we observed that the men crossed themselves each time one was safely lowered into the hold.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 3: The last king to visit it was Sigismund in 1387.]

XXI

SPALATO

Spalato appears for the first time in the "Tavola Peutingeriana" under the name Aspalathos, as a station on the sh.o.r.e road which led from the promontory Ad Dianam (at the end of Monte Marjan) to Epetium (Stobrec) below Salona, but appears at that time to have been a place of no importance. It, however, is thus proved to have existed before the end of the third century, which makes the accepted derivation of the name from "ad Palatium" plainly erroneous. Its great celebrity is due to the palace which Diocletian began to build for himself there shortly before 300 A.D. and to which he retired after his abdication in 305. Within its walls fugitives from Salona, who had returned from the islands to which they had fled at the time of the destruction of the city in 639, found shelter, and so the existing city began its mediaeval course. The palace faced the sea to the south, and along this side were the imperial apartments with the open loggia of fifty arches raised above the water upon ma.s.sive substructures. The plan is not quite square, but imitates a Roman camp, with great square towers at the angles, a gate in the centre of each of three sides flanked with octagonal towers, and with smaller square towers between gates and angles. Towards the sea was a water gate on a lower level. The material is marble from Trau and Brazza limestone. The sea facade is about 550 ft. long, the north about 530 ft., the east and west some 620 ft. The external walls are double throughout, of worked stone filled in with concrete, the thickness being 6 ft. 6 in., and the height from 60 to 80 ft. On the three land facades are double-arched windows 20 ft. from the ground, 6 ft. 6 in. broad, and a little over 11 ft. high. Only three of the angle towers remain, the fourth having fallen in 1555. The princ.i.p.al gateway is towards Salona, and is known as the Porta Aurea. Above the gate itself is an open arch flanked by niches on each side; above them are brackets which sustained the columns of a higher row of seven niches, the whole forming a grandiose architectural composition, of which the ill.u.s.tration shows the effect. The pa.s.sage-way is 13 ft. high by 11 ft. 3 in. wide. The other gates are known as the Porta Ferrea and Porta Argentea. The latter has practically disappeared; the former is over 14 ft. high, and the same width as the Porta Aurea, but without its architectural magnificence.

These gates gave entrance to streets which divided the palace into quarters, that from the Porta Aurea leading to the great peristyle, around and beyond which were the public buildings and the imperial apartments, while the women's quarter was probably to the west of this street, and the officials' rooms to the east, the street at right angles separating them from the more important parts of the palace.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PORTA AUREA, SPALATO

_To face page 293_]

[Ill.u.s.tration: DOOR OF THE "ATRIO ROTONDO," PALACE OF DIOCLETIAN, SPALATO

_To face page 294_]

The colonnade of the peristyle, which is 114 ft. by 50 ft., consists of six free-standing columns of red granite on each side and four at the end. Those at the sides support arches beneath an architrave continued across the end and rising into an arched form over the central s.p.a.ce beneath the pediment. This portion is raised several steps above the general level. To the left is the cathedral, an octagonal building which was the mausoleum of Diocletian, with the campanile standing between it and the peristyle, through which a flight of steps leads; these will again form the entrance when the restorations are completed. Towards the sea steps give entrance to the "atrio rotondo," a circular ante-room, once decorated with precious statues, paintings, and other costly ornaments, while the lantern of the roof was covered with purple hangings. The decoration has vanished, leaving mere construction except for the fine door of entry. To the right, at the end of a narrow alley, is the baptistery, formerly probably the emperor's private temple or chapel, as one may say, which now contains a very interesting font made up of fragments of ninth-century carving, and the beautiful doors of the cathedral, stored there temporarily. The base blocks of the cathedral are nearly 20 ft. high, and there are twenty-two steps in the flight of approach. The portico which surrounds it has columns of marble and granite 21 ft. high. Only nineteen remain of the original twenty-four.

The caps are Corinthian, and they sustain the usual architrave, frieze, and cornice. The octagon within has alternate semicircular and rectangular niches, except on the side which opens into the late Renaissance choir; at each angle stands a column of Egyptian granite with Corinthian cap, and a highly decorated but rather heavy order runs round the interior. Above this is a second smaller row of columns of porphyry with a shallower order, reaching to the springing of the dome, which is built of Dalmatian tiles, arranged in imbrications. Round the upper frieze are _putti_ hunting, bearing garlands, &c. The height to the dome is 68 ft., and the internal diameter 42 ft. A couple of niches in the upper order are so arranged that a word spoken low in one is well heard in that opposite, an arrangement supposed to have been connected with oracular responses. Before the restoration there were galleries on the columns, both below and above.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAN OF CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE, SPALATO ]

The high-altar stands under the niche which has been opened to give access to the choir. At each side of it are the altars of S. Ranier and S. Anastasius, the latter made by George of Sebenico in 1448 to match the former, made in 1427 by the Milanese Gasparo Bonino, and both Gothic. To the left is the very beautiful pulpit shown in the ill.u.s.tration. It bears considerable resemblance to that at Trau, but is superior to it both in design and execution. The lower capitals are worked as if in wood, which makes the tradition all the more probable that Guvina (who made the beautiful doors in 1214) had to do with the making of it. The very original stalls in the choir, with their curious combination of Eastern and Western _motifs_, have also been ascribed to him; brought hither, as is thought, from S. Stefano de Pinis when it was destroyed.

The treasury contains a good many interesting things, among which the first place should perhaps be given to a fine Gospel book of the eighth century, upon which the suffragan bishops used to swear fealty to the metropolitan, reciting the commencement of the Gospel of S. John in Greek, which portion is therefore translated from the Latin for that purpose. Eight formulas used by suffragan bishops from 1059 to 1200 are inserted in it. Two other MSS. are interesting on account of their bindings, a Gospel book and a missal, both of the thirteenth century, reset in the seventeenth. On one is Christ seated on the rainbow in the att.i.tude of blessing, within a mandorla, with cruciferous nimbus and the monograms "IC XC," the corners being filled with the symbols and names of the Evangelists; on the back is the Madonna enthroned with the Child, and two angels in circles; above is the inscription "Michael, Mater Dni, Gabriel." The other binding, which is rather later in style, shows our Lord in Glory, with the monograms "IHS XPC" in an ornamented mandorla, and the Evangelists' symbols; and, on the back, the Crucifixion, with the feet separate. There are eight chalices, all of the fourteenth or fifteenth century, damaged by an inexpert goldsmith who had them to repair, with nielli or enamel grounds to the medallions, and good foliage in relief; two arms of S. Doimus, richly set with gems and precious stones among filigree; a good late fourteenth-century head of S. Giovanni Elemosinario; a morse of the same period, with gems and nielli; a fifteenth-century pax of gilded bra.s.s; and several interesting and very early crosses, probably of the eighth or ninth century, some even earlier. One of these, bearing a figure of Christ wearing the colobium, and resembling Coptic work, bears the inscription "HCA HCA,"

while another of rock-crystal has Coptic inscriptions. The treasure is kept in a cupboard just inside the door of the cathedral; but in the upper sacristy some larger objects are preserved. Here are a fine silver monstrance of 1532, a chapel supported by two angels, and a chalice of silver filigree; also some fine embroidered vestments of the 16th and 17th centuries upon crimson cut velvet.

[Ill.u.s.tration: RELIQUARIES AND CHALICE, TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: MORSE IN THE TREASURY, SPALATO CATHEDRAL]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PANEL FROM GUVINA'S DOORS OF THE CATHEDRAL, SPALATO

_To face page 299_]

The campanile is Romanesque in style, and dates from the early part of the thirteenth century; it has five stories divided by strings, and was nearly 170 ft. high before the restoration, which has been going on ever since 1882. It was largely built of ancient material, and at the sides were two sphinxes, one of which (headless) has been removed into the museum, the head being built into a house in the Ulica Ghetto; it bears an inscription showing that it is of the epoch of Amenhotep III.; the other, of granite of Syene, is still among the scaffolding which surrounds the campanile. Lions crouch at each side of the stairs on the level of the top step; and on the side towards the church are interesting reliefs by Mag. Otto, probably a Benedictine. They represent SS. Doimus and Anastasius and S. Peter, and probably formed part of an altar; above is the Nativity, in two panels, of a later date. A third relief shows the Annunciation, and round the arch of the facade are roughly carved struggling figures and animals, and also the Sacrifice of Abraham. The building is generally believed to have been commenced by Queen Mary of Naples (1270-1323), but an inscription found in the cornice of the first story shows that it had reached that height in 1257. The major part is due to the Spalatine Tvrdoj, who signed a contract in 1416 to construct it, and probably took it up to the third story. The upper part is much later, and the octagonal pyramid was not completed till the eighteenth century.

The baptistery is 32 ft. long and 29 ft. broad, with pilasters at the angles. It was probably prostyle, with a pediment in front which has gone; under the cornice is a rich frieze with symbols denoting a dedication to Jupiter. The door is richly ornamented, and is nearly 20 ft. high by a little more than 8ft. broad. The building has a wagon vault of three courses, carved with cofferings and rosettes above a magnificent cornice. Resting against the wall are the fine doors of the cathedral, carved with twenty-eight subjects in panels divided by scroll-work; amongst the scrolls, animals, birds, and figures appear, and traces of colour and gilding may be discovered, the design showing by style the influence of Byzantine models. Here are also several early sarcophagi--that of Archbishop Giovanni ([Symbol: cross]680), that of Archbishop Lorenzo ([Symbol: cross]1097), and that of the two daughters of Bela IV. of Hungary, which used to be over the door of the cathedral.

The panels of the cruciform font were put together in 1527-1533 by Archbishop Andrea Cornelio, and probably came from the cathedral. The archaeological society, "Bihac," took it to pieces in March, 1895. It is made of fourteen slabs, twelve external and two as walls between the shorter arms and the internal s.p.a.ce, all of Greek marble with blue veins. Six of the external slabs have early mediaeval carvings, one has Roman ornament, a Roman inscription is on the back of another, the rest are smooth back and front, and several have been sawn. They are nearly the same height and thickness, but vary in length, and were part of some chancel enclosure, altar or sarcophagus. The carvings are probably of the eleventh century, and are extremely curious. It is possible that they may be work of pupils of Mag. Otto, though the character of the patterns points rather to the Comacines, who were certainly working a little higher up the coast. In a pa.s.sage in the Porta Aurea, above the gate, is a little chapel made in the eighth or ninth century, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin, S. Martin, and S. Gregory the Pope. It is said to have belonged to the tertiaries of S. Dominic till a century or so back, and was then used as a store. Mgr. Bulic restored it in 1899. On the lintel of the door of entry is an inscription mentioning a presbyter Dominicus. There is a "Dominica.n.u.s presbyter, capella.n.u.s" as witness in a deed of gift of the ban Trpimir in 852, and the screen of a chapel of Trpimir at Riinice, near Salona, is like that of this little chapel in style. This is the oldest place of wors.h.i.+p in Dalmatia, except the cathedral. It occupies the s.p.a.ce between the two niches above the archway, and the pierced window-slabs of the ninth century still remain in the little windows. The screen has two octagonal colonnettes with a cable necking, and rough caps with volutes, but no foliations support an arch beneath a steep gable; a Latin cross with griffins crouching on each side fills the s.p.a.ce between. Round the arch and along the frieze runs an inscription. All along are the simple crockets called by the Italians "caulicoli." The slabs at the bottom are surrounded by a running pattern bordered by zigzags. A number of remains of this period have been found in Dalmatia, of which a few may here be noted. The most ancient inscription of the national dynasty is on the fragments of the screen already referred to at Riinice, between Clissa and Salona, where the ban Trpimir founded a convent of Benedictines in 860, and where the foundations of church and castle were excavated in 1895-1899.

[Ill.u.s.tration: STALL-BACKS IN CHOIR, CATHEDRAL, SPALATO

_To face page 300_]

The church of S. Maria de Salona, or de Otok, lies on an island in the Jader joined by a bridge to the Clissa road. It was founded by Queen Helena, whose sarcophagus was discovered among the foundations in 1898, and bears the date 976 and the name of Helena, wife of King Mihael and mother of King Stefa.n.u.s. The church was a small basilica with nave and aisles, and an apse in the thickness of the eastern wall, with three piers and corresponding pilasters in the side walls. It was about 36 ft.

long, with a width of ii ft. 6 in. the nave, and 7 ft. 4 in. the aisles.

There was one west door, a narthex of two bays, and an atrium. Amongst fragments of ninth and tenth-century carving a pattern closely resembling Syrian ornament was found. At Knin, when the railway was being made, stones with ninth-century patterns were also found. This city was a royal residence and seat of the courts of justice, and in the middle of the eleventh century the bishop of Knin was made primate of Croatia and a councillor of the king. All these carvings were probably executed by Comacines, doc.u.mentary evidence of whose presence in the country, brought from Cividale by the Croatian ban, has been found by Mgr. Bulic. Two sculptors only are known by inscriptions earlier than the Benedictines, who took a leading part in the development of mediaeval Dalmatian sculpture in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These are Mag. Andrea, builder of the little church of S. Lucia, near Besca, in Veglia, which is earlier than the twelfth century, and Mag. Otto of the eleventh century. After them the names of Guvina and Radua.n.u.s occur, at Spalato and Trau. There are, however, indications that Mag. Otto may have himself been a Benedictine; the Order appears to have been established in Dalmatia before the tenth century, and to them S.

Crisogono, Zara, was due. If so, according to the rule of his Order, he would have inherited the manual of art which every Benedictine leaving the mother monastery to found a new one carried with him, together with the liturgical books.

After the death of Diocletian in 313 Salona inherited the palace. The imperial apartments were reserved for ill.u.s.trious guests, and the rest appears to have been used as a cloth-factory. It is thought that it was here that the dethroned Emperor Nepos was slain in Odoacer's time.

Towards the end of the fifth century Marcellinus, first king of Dalmatia, lived here for a short time after his proclamation, when the province had been taken from the Emperor Leo. The destruction of Salona in 639 drove the inhabitants to take refuge in the islands where the Avars could not follow them. When the Croats drove these away Severus recalled some of them, and they inhabited the palace. The bishopric was founded in 649 by John of Ravenna, legate of Pope Martin I. He it was who converted the mausoleum into a cathedral, opening the door on the south side which has the curious ornament round it, and dedicating it to the a.s.sumption, and also bringing the relics of S. Anastasitis and S.

Doimus from Salona, and placing them beneath the side altars. The beginning of the Venetian dominion was brought about by the appeal for help against Cresimir which the Spalatines made to Venice by advice of Basil and Constantine, emperors of Byzantium. Pietro Orseolo received the homage of the citizens in the cathedral, defeated Cresimir, and made peace at Trau on the understanding that Zara and Spalato were to be Venetian thenceforth; but the Croat kings a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of King of Dalmatia and obtained the a.s.sent of the Pope to their holding the dignity till the Hungarian dynasty succeeded them. In 1401 all Dalmatia, except the Bocche and Ragusa, became Neapolitan; and Ladislas was crowned by a papal emissary king of Hungary and Dalmatia at Zara. His viceroy built a palace at Spalato, of which remains exist between the Marina and the Piazza dell' Erbe; to which the Venetians added the octagonal tower for the defence of the port, so conspicuous from the sea. Turkish raids were frequent. In 1570 the garrison of Clissa nearly took the city; but twenty-six years later the Spalatines retaliated by surprising and ma.s.sacring the garrison of Clissa in a night attack, led by the archdeacon, who, with three canons, was left on the field. Their leader dead, they were not able to retain possession of the fortress.

Under Venice, Spalato was the princ.i.p.al place for trade with Persia and the Indies, and many n.o.ble Venetian families established themselves there.