NUMBER 05/ June 2019

«Per essere italiano doveria essortare li heretici a ritornare catholici, ma fa tutto l’opposito». Riforme, controriforma e ricattolicizzazione fra Canal del Ferro e Valcanale: il ruolo dei mercanti.

Until the late 17th century, one of the main transit routes between the Republic of Venice and the eastern Imperial territories was the Pontebbana road. The valleys of Canale del Ferro (Venetian) and Kanaltal/Valcanale (imperial) constituted the Alpine section of this artery. The spread of heterodox ideas in the communities of the two valleys was not only in a downward direction – from the areas that had sided with the Reformation to the
Catholic ones – but also ascending – from Venice and the Friulian centers that hosted heretical groups towards Carinthia. One of the driving forces behind the spread of these ideas was commerce. A significant number of the people involved in the heresy trials celebrated by the Holy Office of Aquileia and Concordia, as well as of the families who in the imperial area were identified as followers of the Reformed creed, were involved in trade, especially of iron and timber. The article aims to reconstruct the role played by merchants in disseminating the ideas of the Reformation between the 1560s and the early 17th century. In particular, an analysis is made of the career and readings of Francesco Salone, a merchant resident in Chiusa but of Venetian origins, who was put on trial for heresy by the Holy Office in 1581. Finally, use is made of the letters of pre Salvatore Secreto to the vicar of the Patriarch of Aquileia on the situation of the parish of Malborghetto. Here coexisted groups that had gone over to the Reformation and families remaining Catholics, all involved in the mercantile trade that spread through the valleys. His role was to promote the recatholicization of the community.

Keywords: Reform, Counter-Reformation, Canal del Ferro, Valcanale, timber trade.