La Sardegna e le reti mercantili del Mediterraneo nel basso Medioevo

The essay provides an interpretive synthesis on the economic history of late medieval Sardinia, with a particular focus on the merchant networks and trade flows that affected the island between the 12th and 15th centuries. From this point of view, the traditional bipartition between a ‘Pisan-Genoese’ period and a ‘Catalan’ period offers a still useful point of reference, provided that the political and cultural dimensions, usually associated with these labels, are also joined by a geo-economic characterization. As much as the medieval history of Sardinia has not infrequently been interpreted as a unicum on the Euro-Mediterranean scenario, the broader contexts, including those centred on the great Italo-Iberian maritime and mercantile empires, often have much to say about the centuries-old evolutions of the island's economy.