The Florentines and the European ‘Capitals’ at the Dawn of the ‘First Globalisation’

In the Late Middle Ages, Florentine merchants were able to establish their presence in the main trading centres of the European continent. This paper investigates on one side their settlement in some Western and North-Western European capitals, analysing their relations within the Florentine community, with the other Italian communities and with the local population. On the other side, this paper discusses the impact that this presence had on the host cities, especially from the economic point of view. Indeed, Florentines played a relevant role in favouring movement of financial resources between these centres thus contributing to the formation of a European money market; moreover, they helped establishing contact with non-European continents, both the ‘old’ (Africa and Asia) and the newly-discovered ones (America).