Money, Culture, Beauty. The Botti Family

Introduction

A family biography, but above all the history of a Florentine corporate group, this volume tells the story of the Botti family, which was active in the leading economic markets in the first half of the sixteenth century. Florence, Pisa, Cádiz, Seville, Venice, Valladolid, Rome, Antwerp and Lyon were the cities where our merchants carried out their financial and trade activity, in the form of opening companies and prolonged stays.

This study, which draws mainly on the extraordinary documentary sources left by the Botti family, touches on several historiographic themes. The first is that of migration in Europe during the Middle Ages and early modern period. The second, research on the families of Renaissance Florence. The third, more rarely explored, intercultural trade.

As for the presence of merchants abroad, the literature on this subject is vast and will not be our focus here. We will limit ourselves to noting that the topic has recently been freshly explored in terms of capitalistic development.^[1]

The Botti family’s strongest ties were with Spanish markets. This was a period during which Andalusia’s appeal increased considerably. A border region between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, foreign businessmen flocked to the area ready to exploit the trade opportunities offered by the discovery of the New World. This is a wide-ranging topic that was recently brought further to the fore by five conferences in Seville that offered rich analysis of issues linked to early globalisation, the role of trade in its development and exchange between cities and ports.

Cádiz and Seville became cosmopolitan markets. Cádiz, located on the Atlantic Ocean, saw its port fill with ships. Seville was transformed, its quarters and streets flooding with people looking for business and adventure: sailors, vagabonds and artists, but most importantly bankers and merchants. The city filled with the Portuguese, French, Germans, English, Italians and Flemings, becoming an international hub.[2]

The presence of Florentines in Andalusia and their role in trade with the West has been amply discussed. A few historians argued in the past that their activity after the discovery of the New World was fairly limited. According to their research, the number of Tuscan companies increased in the first quarter of the sixteenth century, but they played a middling economic role in terms of innovation and the quantity and value of the goods traded. More recent literature has shown that the activity of those merchants was actually significant and not held back by mediocre routine.^[3] The Botti family is an exemplary case in point.

[1] B. Figliuolo, ‘Mercanti fiorentini e il loro spazio economico: un modello di organizzazione capitalistica’, Archivio Storico Italiano, 638, 2013, pp. 639–664. I have also researched this theme through the lens of Social Network Analysis and application of different theories of management:  A. Orlandi, ‘Le prestazioni di una holding tardo medievale rilette attraverso alcune teorie di management e la Social Network Analysis’, in Innovare nella Storia Economica: Temi, Metodi, Fonti, Rome 10-11 October 2014, Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica “F. Datini” – Prato, Prato 2016, pp. 117–148; A. Orlandi, ‘Networks and Models of the Commercial Penetration of the Late Medieval Mediterranean. Revisiting the Case of Datini’, in Commercial Networks and European Cities, 1400-1800, eds. A. Caracausi and C. Jeggle, Pickering & Chatto Publishers Ltd, London 2014, pp. 81–106.

[2] In addition to the more recent literature listed in note 3, see the classic studies B and L. Benassar, 1492 ¿Un mundo nuevo?, Nerea, Madrid 1992; A.M. Bernal, A. Collantes De Terán, A. García-Baquero, Sevilla, de los gremios a la indstrialización, Ayuntamiento de Sevilla, Seville 2008; R. Carande, Carlo V e i suoi banchieri, Marietti, Genoa 1987; J.H. Elliot, La Spagna imperiale: 1469-1716, Il Mulino, Bologna 1982; A. García-Baquero, Comercio y burguesía mercantil en el Cádiz de la Carrera de Indias, Diputación Provincial de Huelva, Cádiz 1991; F. Morales Padrón, Historia de Sevilla. Las ciudad de Quinientos, Universisad de Sevilla, Seville 1989; E. de Ory Lozano, Colón, Cádiz y el descubromiento de América, S.L. Rústica Editorial, Cádiz 1993; J. Lynch, España bajo los Asturias/1. Imperio y absolutismo (1516-1598), Ediciones Península, Barcellona 1989; A. Rumeu De Armas, Cádiz, metrópoli del comercio con África en los siglos XV y XVI, Dante, Cádiz 1976.

[3] A. Orlandi, ‘Dall’Andalusia al Nuovo Mondo: affari e viaggi di mercanti toscani nel Cinquecento’, in Vespucci, Firenze e le Americhe. Atti del Convegno Internazionale, Firenze 22-24 novembre 2012, eds. G. Pinto, L. Rombai, C. Tripodi, Olschki, Florence 2014, pp. 63–86; A. Orlandi, ‘Fiorentini alla ricerca del Nuovo Mondo’, in Amerigo Vespucci e i mercanti viaggiatori fiorentini del Cinquecento, eds. M. Azzari amd L. Rombai, Firenze University Press, Florence 2013, pp. 131–156; A. Orlandi, ‘Tuscan Merchants in Andalusia: A Historiographical Debate’, in Italian Merchants in the Early-Modern Spanish Monarchy: Business Relations, Identities and Political Resources, eds. C. Brilli, M. Herrero Sánchez, Routledge, London 2017, pp. 13–32.