Il Regno della Repubblica: continuità istituzionali e scambi interculturali a Cipro durante la dominazione veneziana (1473-1570)

The research aims at pointing out the intercultural character of Cyprus, in the political and institutional as well as in the social and cultural field, during the period of the Venetian domination. We examine the traces of continuity between the period during which Cyprus was a kingdom governed by the French Lusignan dynasty and the one following the inclusion of Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean dominions of Venice. We focus on the preservation of typical institutions of the feudal organisation, in order to describe the paradox of a republic governing a kingdom, as was the case of the Venetian administration in Cyprus. We then examine the interaction and cultural influence between the local population and the Venetians residing in Cyprus, among the various confessional groups and between the Cypriots and the Ottomans, who were soon about to conquest the island.