Ambassador Italy launches unique resource for history Dutch-Italian relations
Italian ambassador Giorgio Novello launched a pioneering digital edition of the very oldest diplomatic correspondence between the Netherlands and Italy at the Mauritshuis in The Hague on Friday 18 October.
Historian Nina Lamal of the Huygens Institute for Dutch History and Culture worked for four years to unlock over 700 letters from the first Venetian envoy Suriano. The letters, which offer spectacular new insights into the history of the Dutch Republic, have been accessible online and fully searchable for everyone since Friday. The launch of suriano.huygens.knaw.nl took place during the celebration of 400 years of Dutch-Italian relations.
In 1616, Cristofforo Suriano arrived in The Hague as envoy of the Republic of Venice. He had an important mission: to shape the very first alliance between an Italian state and the Dutch Republic. During the seven years, he would send home at least one letter every week, reporting on his negotiations and the political situation in the Republic. After being used by the Senate, the letters lay unread in the Venetian state archives for 400 years. The new website now makes them accessible to everyone, fully searchable.
Suriano arrived in the Republic at a crossroads in the history of the Netherlands and Europe. In the Republic, truce disputes and the struggle between Prince Maurice and Johan van Oldenbarnevelt were raging; in Germany, the Thirty Years’ War was about to break out. The letters contain numerous unknown facts about this exciting time, and vivid descriptions of what Suriano observed and the conversations he had. Historians can thus gain new insights into one of the most turbulent periods in Dutch history.
The edition is the result of an international collaboration between the Huygens Institute for Dutch History, the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, and a team of Italian transcribers. Chief researcher and editor Nina Lamal enriched the letters with summaries, personal descriptions and explanations.
