Lungo le rotte dei genovesi. Banca e commercio nel Mediterraneo Occidentale alla fine del Trecento

This study offers an in-depth examination of the socio-economic system within which Genoese merchants operated at the end of the fourteenth century, through the accounting records of the Datini company in Genoa. The identification of several economic actors has made it possible to reconstruct the routes, instruments, goods, and means that characterized Genoese economic activity in the Western Mediterranean. Banking and commercial activities were embedded in a system of relationships that involved not only the Genoese but also foreign economic actors, particularly Tuscans, thereby revealing a complex and multifaceted framework. The routes followed by the men of Genoa delineate a network of connections within which both the Genoese themselves and the Datini company operated and collaborated. The comparison of the various sources employed has made it possible to reconstruct these dynamics, providing an overview of Genoese economic activity and of the articulation of the economic and social network.