Page 94 - Lanzarotto Malocello from Italy to the Canary Islands

94 from Italy to the Canary Islands

their initial appreciators pontifices, sovereigns and noblemen. Before long
they reached a grand duchy, or Rome, or a city of the sea and there they
seriously got down to work, trying to make use of that keen study, often by
candlelight, of which the practical side was still not seen, and their draw-
ings were more about art than defence and attack.
One does not declare war on a city of the sea; instead, one appears in the
gulf, the colourful display of galleys already demonstrating one’s strength.
There will certainly already have been skirmishes in possessed land fara-
way, but, as they say, war has to come home. And at that point the melody
of the sea will also play its part as a background, of course.
One of the most evident ways in which Genoa was “different” from
th
other 13 century Italian cities was in its attitude towards Emperor Fred-
erick II. May we say immediately, even if only for historical justice, that
the son of Constance I of Sicily and Henry VI was, for many, “the first
modern spirit”, “a man born prematurely, before his time”, “the initiator
of the modern State”. Therefore, from these precise statements, the behav-
th
iour of Genoa towards Frederick II during the 13 century was arrogant
at the very least. Arrogant, but at the same time respectful of its nature.
Arrogance could however be understood in a negative sense and we would
not be in the right: those with the sea before them have many horizons to
be discovered day by day and thus leave to their best citizens the task of
embroidering their destiny.
What Genoa has always wanted to reiterate is the feeling of liberty, or
rather maintaining its independence as a city of broad horizons and there-
fore builder of destinies in the open sea.
The sea, pride, the spirit of sacrifice and adventure and business sense
would never have forced it to “change route” as could have happened with
foreign interference; by nature, Genoa looked beyond, which it had to do
precisely to write its own history. All these qualities therefore led Genoa to
behave respectfully towards Frederick II, without ever renouncing howev-
er, to things gained on the seas and on land: that state of liberty conquered
during the centuries could in no way be harmed.
The cities of the sea base their history on the melody of the waves and
must only respond to that sound. This melody mirrors the mood, which
makes people withdraw, favouring melancholy or wisdom; it is that mel-
ody which forges talent to fit out fleets and to write strategies down on
paper; and it is precisely that sound of the waves which makes up bursts of
horizons, just like countless frescoes in a number of hues between the sea,