Page 100 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

100 from Italy to the Canary Islands

perhaps speak of general meanness and of a smaller field of vision with re-
spect to the other cities, which certainly had a greater political conscious-
ness, but Genoa had its tradition whereby it was cautious and tactical and
above all, predisposed to safeguarding its own business, which generally
followed two paths, by sea and by land.
In terms of factions, for Genoa we should speak of the “Rampini” and
the “Mascherati” rather than the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. But intran-
sigencies could crack in Genoa as everywhere else, too, and as such, a gap
opened up with the possibilists, who could be defined as real strategists,
real seamen in fact, prepared to steer a middle course and find their way
through the storms. The “strategists”, i.e. those who did not feel at all un-
compromising and who were prepared to take up “openings”, therefore
appeared in between the two options - being in favour of the Guelph party
or following in the wake of the Emperor. And so, minds appeared on the
scene who considered compromise as a good chance. Between the snares
of the Emperors who wanted to limit communal independence to the max-
imum and those who definitively opposed such a hypothesis, we can catch
sight of a middle ground where, with intransigencies smoothed out, the
possibility of coming to an agreement could be identified. Each side takes
a step back and in this way, previous conquests may not be compromised.
The very victories of Frederick II in 1236 in Cortenuova over the League
would convince the Emperor that it would be impossible to achieve the
total subjugation of the Communes and make the imperial power so de-
finitive. This is the event which sparked the idea in Genoa that uncertain
or even intransigent politics would not produce appreciable results. And
yet it would still be intransigent, when it would refuse to swear fidelity to
the Emperor. It would therefore adopt a more familiar approach towards
the Communes, and this operation, to which Venice was also a party, was
advocated by the Pope. This marked the start of a new politics for Genoa:
it had finally understood how it is not possible to remain anchored to tradi-
tions, with the idea that looking to the sea, and therefore to its own destiny,
was the only route to follow. Defending its own walls and its own business
also began “tactically”, and, at that time, it would have been very hard if
they had become isolated.
An agreement was signed in 1238 with the treaty of Rome. It was led by
the Pope and therefore, in a way, we could say that the Guelph faction was
assembled. But clear-cut roles and Genoa do not exactly go hand in hand.
So far we have seen different ways in which the Dominant city behaved