Magistrato alle acque
The magistrato alle acque (lit. 'magistrate for the waters') was a collective magistracy of the
Foundation and history in the Republic of Venice
Situated in the Venetian Lagoon, water was vital to the city and state of Venice: the lagoon and its waterways were vital commercial arteries, but also provided the best defence for the city of Venice and guaranteed its independence.[1] In the Middle Ages, the lagoon was administered by the curia publicorum, commonly known as the Poviego, established in 1282 by merging previous boards charged with the maintenance of the city's canals.[2][3] The Poviego shared this role with the provveditori di común, and in the 15th century with the highest organs of the Venetian government, the Council of Ten and the Venetian Senate.[2]
While until the 15th century the city's constant growth meant that the Lagoon was administered from the perspective of an environment of urban expansion and administration, the slowing of that growth gave way to a view that the lagoon had to be preserved.
Like most magistracies of the Venetian Republic, these councils were filled by election for fixed terms exclusively from among the Venetian patriciate. To provide expert assistance, the magistracy employed a number of professional personnel, including secretarial staff and hydraulic technicians. Known as the periti or proti (sing. proto), these were drawn from the burghers (cittadini ordinari) and held their position for life.[1] From 1542, the post of a matematico pubblico ('public mathematician') was also instituted to provide expert advice.[2]
In addition, in a semi-ritualized practice, the collegio delle acque employed the advice of eight experienced fishermen nominated from the fishing guilds of the Lagoon's main settlements.[7]
The duties of the magistracy were to keep the Lagoon from
The importance of the Lagoon for Venice also meant that the magistrato alle acque enjoyed a higher authority and priority than other competing agencies, most notably the provveditori sopra beni inculti, founded in 1556 to promote the cultivation of lands in Venice's mainland possessions in the Veneto: on issues related to the management of the rivers feeding the Lagoon, the Magistrato alle acque invariably had the final say, leading to aborted requests for irrigation, or canalization of the Sile, Brenta, and Piave rivers in ways that ensured the uninterrupted supply of the Lagoon, but exposed their surroundings to frequent flooding.[8][9]
The magistrato alle acque in modern Italy
Magistrato delle acque per le province venete e di Mantova | |
Agency overview | |
---|---|
Formed | May 5, 1907 |
Dissolved | June 14, 2014 |
Headquarters | Palazzo dei Dieci Savi Sestiere San Polo, 19 |
The original magistrato alle acque disappeared with the
Its powers are primarily exercised over the Veneto region as well as the
It was abolished in 2014 in the wake of a corruption scandal in the
References
- ^ a b c d Mathieu 2007, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d e f Ortalli 2004, p. 397.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, pp. 66–67.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, p. 67.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, p. 68.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, pp. 69–70.
- ^ Mathieu 2007, pp. 73–75.
- ^ Ciriacono 2006, pp. 46–48.
Sources
- Ciriacono, Salvatore (2006). Building on Water: Venice, Holland and the Construction of the European Landscape in Early Modern Times. Translated by Jeremy Scott. Berghahn Books. ISBN 978-1-8454-5065-6.
- Mathieu, Christian (2007). Inselstadt Venedig: Umweltgeschichte eines Mythos in der Frühen Neuzeit (in German). Cologne, Weimar: Böhlau Verlag. ISBN 978-3-4121-6806-3.
- Ortalli, Gherardo (2004). "Forms of Knowledge in the Conservation of Natural Resources: from the Middle Ages to the Venetian "Tribe"". Nature Knowledge: Ethnoscience, Cognition, and Utility. Berghahn Books. pp. 391–398. ISBN 978-1-5718-1823-2.