| |
relazione
A detailed account of the political, military, economic and social conditions within a state produced by the Venetian diplomats who had served there. Dating from the second half of the thirteenth century though not achieving its final form until the sixteenth, the relazione was much fuller than a despatch and was updated by each successive ambassador and solemnly read to the senate on his return. The Venetian relazioni were unique and acquired great fame; as a result, copies were bought both by governments and collectors. They were not, however, universally admired. Torcy, the bustling foreign minister of Louis XIV, who required a written mémoire or final report from his own envoys on their return from abroad, noted tersely that the Venetian style contained ‘beaucoup de paroles, nulle conclusion’. See also sefaretname. |
|
