Trade development in the Greek colonies of Italy

Trade is the economic activity of the Greeks which marks their presence on the Italian peninsula as well as in other regions of settlement. The Greeks are mainly the intermediaries in trade between the Ottoman Empire and the West.

The cities of the Italian peninsula maintained commercial transactions with the Levant since the period of the Byzantine rule. Just before the fall of Constantinople the external and local coastal trade were in the hands of Italian mercantile democratic cities, such as Venice and Genoa. However, in the mid-15th century and in the course of the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire expands impressively to the detriment of the Italian possessions in the eastern Mediterranean. At the same time, the Italian peninsula is agitated by the internal war conflicts and the intervention of the European forces. Already from the second half of the 15th century the Ottoman state encourages the Greeks (as well as other Balkan people and eastern merchants) to expand their commercial transactions with the West in order to satisfy the needs of the urban centres of the Empire.

In the course of the 16th century the Italian small states are obliged to confer special privileges to the Ottomans and to the eastern merchants in general in order to develop their trade and to cover the great needs in cereals which play an important role in the Italian economy. Ancona confers privileges to the Ottoman merchants in 1514 while in the mid-16th century there are more than 100 Greek commercial houses operate on its port. Some years later in Livorno the privileged treatment of the foreign merchants is legally established. This leads many Greek merchants to settle in the city of Livorno.

From the late 17th and during the 18th century important ports of the Italian peninsula - Livorno, Neapolis, Messina, Ancona, Trieste - are declared "free cities". The tariffs that merchants must pay for the products they import and export from these "free" ports are considerably reduced. The supporters of the "free ports" believe that they can open the way to the importation of gold and exportation of home products, achieving in this way the equilibrium of the trade balance. Moreover, this was the main objective of the economic theory and action that dominated at that time in the so-called Europe of "mercantilism". The "free ports" become, as expected, commercial centres that attract Greek merchants. In addition, they constitute one of the factors of prosperity of trade in the Greek colonies of the Italian peninsula.

Nevertheless, the "golden" period of the Greek merchants of the Italian colonies begins after the mid-18th century and it involves mainly Livorno and Trieste. The Greeks of Neapolis turn to trade much later, after 1820. This "golden" period is linked to the economic penetration of the European forces in the Ottoman Empire.

By the end of the 16th century the French, English and Dutch have penetrated into the Empire which is experiencing an economic and monetary crisis and have actually placed the import and export trade under their control. In the beginning, the Greeks undertake the transportation of products in different regions of the inland of the Empire and are simple assistants of the foreign merchants. However, in the course of time they benefit from the intense economic, political and polemical competition among the European powers and after 1750 they undertake a considerable part of the Ottoman Empire's trade. The appearance of a powerful Greek mercantile class in the Ottoman Empire was naturally followed by the development of powerful Greek mercantile classes in the colonies which were in close cooperation with the Greeks in the Ottoman state. Moreover, in the 18th century the West needs agricultural products from the Ottoman Empire for the artisanship and manufacturing production; mainly for the textile manufacture. The Greeks of Italy are the ones that can become intermediaries between the two economic areas, the West and the Levant.

Of course trade in the Greek colonies could not have developed if the dominant powers on the Italian region did not show interest in developing their commercial transactions with the Levant. In Livorno the role of the English and French merchants that have settled there and with which the Greeks cooperate closely is definitive. Trieste is influenced by the policy of Austria. In the 18th century Austria also benefits from the decline of Venice and joins dynamically the group of the European powers that claim territorial and economical benefits from the Ottoman Empire. With the treaties of Karlowitz (1699) and Passarowitz (1718) Austria obtains land and privileges which establish its commercial relations with the Ottoman Empire via the Balkans. In Constantinople 1771, Austria concludes a friendship agreement with the Ottoman Empire and is acknowledged as "the most favoured country" from the trade between the two countries. In February 1784 Austria is declared, now officially, as one of the "favoured states" from the trade between its subjects and the Ottoman Empire; France and Great Britain are also "favoured states". The Black Sea and the Dardanelles then open to the Austrian ships.

Russia was the country that had opened the way for the free circulation of the European commercial ships in the Euxinus Pontus (Black Sea) with the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji in 1774 that marked the end of the first Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774) in the days of the empress Catherine II. In 1779 Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the treaty of Ainali Kavac which ratifies the terms of the Kuchuk Kainarji treaty; now Greek ships have the possibility to travel freely with the Russian flag in the Ottoman seas. More generally the dynamic entry of Russia in the political-economic competition of the European powers in the Ottoman region during the 18th century favours the action of the Greek merchants in and beyond the Ottoman Empire's frontiers.

In the course of the 18th century and in the beginning of the 19th century, international conflicts influence directly or indirectly the commercial activity of the Greeks. The international clashes of the mid-18th century, the War of the Austrian Succession and mostly the Seven Years' War, make the traffic of foreign ships -mainly French- in the eastern Mediterranean difficult leaving the Greek ships free and thus offering to the Greeks opportunities to make profit. The French Revolution of 1789 and the Napoleonic Wars from 1790 until approximately 1815 have negative and positive effects on the commercial activities of the Greeks. In the few years that Livorno and Trieste are under the rule of Napoleon, the Greek trade is at a great extent negatively influenced. However, the international turbulence offers opportunities of enrichment to the Greeks. In 1806, when Napoleon imposes the "Continental System" and tries to "close" the Mediterranean to the English, smuggling -especially through Malta- thrives. Many opportunities of easy profit turn up for the Greek merchants on the Ottoman territory. But at the same time marine trade which is vital for the Greeks of the Italian ports is badly effected.

Routes

The products from the Levant reach the Greeks of Italy mainly from sea routes since the Greek colonies are developed in ports. However, when the historical conditions impose otherwise the land routes in the Balkans are also used for transportation. The merchandise are distributed in the inland of Europe by land routes.

In the first years (around 1750 up to 1775) the ships leave from Missolonghi, Patrai, Methoni, the Ionian islands and the ports of Crete for Trieste. From the end of the 18th century the ships from the Levant whose destination is Trieste in most cases leave or pass from Smyrna, the Peloponnese (mainly from Aigio, Patrai, Glarentza, Katakolo, Methoni, Koroni, Kalamata) and from the Ionian islands. The commercial importance of Smyrna constantly raises and from the 1820's itineraries such as "Smyrna - Zacynthus - Trieste" or "Smyrna - Ancona - Trieste", with eventual stops in between, increase. After the signing of the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji the sea routes for Trieste (as well as Ancona and Livorno) may often start from southern Russia also and pass from Constantinople, particularly in the 1820's and 1830's. Moreover, since 1826 ships from the new flourishing port of Syros, Hermoupolis, and Alexandria arrive in Trieste. The ports from which ships leave or where ships stop do not always constitute the place of origin of the merchandise that are transported. Products from the inland of Asia and the Aegean islands are gathered in Smyrna. Products from Epirus, eastern Macedonia, Thessaly and the northern Balkan regions are brought to Missolonghi and Arta.

In Livorno the cargo come mostly from the western and southeastern Greek region. Products from the continental Greek region are transported to Missolonghi, Patrai, Preveza, Cephalonia and Paxoi, bound for Livorno. More rarely cargo may come from northern Africa (Alexandria, Tunis or Tripoli). In the beginning of the 19th century the Greek owned ships that reach the port of the Tyrrhenian Sea come mainly from Constantinople and the ports of the Black Sea; they transport cereals from the Euxinus Pontus. Between 1776 and 1821 Greek owned ships arrive in Ancona from the Ionian islands, the Aegean islands, western Greece, other Italian cities and from the Albanian coast. Greek merchants arrive in the neighbouring Senigallia, especially from 1700 onward, in order to participate in the annual trade fair. These merchants as well as the goods they carry, come mainly from the Ionian islands (mostly from Cephalonia and Corfu), Missolonghi, the ports of Epirus and the island of Patmos while the merchants that come from Smyrna and the Aegean isles are fewer.

The ships that transport the Greek merchants' products belong mostly to Greeks of the Ottoman territory or to foreigners. Sometimes the Greeks of the colonies may own a whole ship or be part-owners of one. Until approximately 1820, in the years of the flourishing of the Greek merchant shipping under Ottoman rule, the Greeks of Trieste used mainly ships of Greek subjects for the transportation of their merchandise. These ships can sail either bearing the Ottoman flag or, at least from 1782 onward, with the flag of the Greek Ottoman subjects (greco-ottomana). The treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji permits Greek ships to sail with the Russian flag also. After the defeat of Napoleon, the withdrawal of the French from Trieste in 1813 after five years of occupation and the crisis of the Greek merchant marine in the years of the Greek War of Independence were the reasons for which the Greeks of Trieste prefer to transport their products with Austrian flagged ships (whose captain must be an Austrian subject) or with ships that bear the flag of the Ionian islands. The Austrian ships are constructed in Venice or in Trieste (where the big Panphilli shipyards build ships since 1779).

Between 1776 and 1793 the Greek-owned ships constitute 25% of the ships that reach the port of Livorno while between 1761 and 1796 the ships that reach the papal port of Ancona coming from the Ottoman territory do not exceed 5% of the total number of ships.(3) However, these figures cannot give us information on ships that may not belonged to Greeks but probably served the interests of the Greeks of Italy. In any case the Greek merchants which travel to participate in the trade fair of Senigallia often carry their products in ships owned by French or Italians from Neapolis and Ragusa.

The ships that transport products from and to the the Levant belong to different kind of people. In Trieste, from the end of the 18th century onward large sailing vessels, the three-masted boats, the polaca and the brigantine are the most common ships on the sea routes. In the course of time, the development of trade demands ships of greater tonnage to cover the needs of transportation of larger loads of cargo and for longer trips. That is the reason for which merchant vessels of small tonnage such as the "pigos", do not travel long distances while others such as the tartan, the schooner and the trabacolo are rarely seen on sea routes from the end of the 18th century.

Documents and certifications that go along with merchant ships ensure the free entry and exit from the ports. The trips are long. For example, in the 1820's the sea trip from Odessa to Livorno is about 55 days while from Paxoi to Trieste the trip lasts 14 days. Quite often the trips delay because of the quarantine that ships are obliged to go through before people and products get off the ships. In Livorno in the beginning of the 19th century the quarantine can last even 35 days. In Ancona in the 18th century the quarantines last many days and are often unjustified. The ships that travel from and to the Levant do the same limited number of itineraries. In the beginning of the 19th century a ship can do the same itinerary "Odessa-Livorno-Odessa" up to three times in one year at the best of cases and travel three times a year from the northeastern Peloponnese to Livorno or Trieste and return to its starting point.

Merchants

The majority of the Greeks that have settled temporarily or permanently in the Italian ports during the second half of the 18th century and the early years of the 19th century are merchants or are employed in the commercial sector (as commercial agents, shipping agents and secretaries which are actually apprentices to merchants). In the censuses of Trieste and Livorno we certainly find other professions as well - craftsmen, artisans, servants, teachers, doctors, priests - but not a great number of them, as all the people of these professions do not exceed one third of the Greeks (always referring to the men since women did not have the right to have a job or profession).

Some merchants become brokers which means that they intervene on the order of the city administration against payment (broker's fee) in trading, in order to control and facilitate commercial transactions. Already from the mid-18th century three of the 12 brokers of Trieste are Greek while in the beginning of the 19th century their number increases considerably.

The Greek merchants are not all occupied with the same kind of trade. Wholesalers sell products wholesale, they trade bills of exchange and are generally wholesale dealers. The merchants which are employed in retail trade are usually shop owners and rarely pedlars. They keep stores in the market (they are called "bottegai" from "bottega" which means store) and sell nutrition products, raki and other drinks which are usually imported from the Levant. The Greek bottegai in Trieste are usually shop owners from the Peloponnese and Epirus (Arta). Wine-merchants are usually publicans whereas coffee dealers are coffee-house keepers too.

Until approximately 1780 most Greek merchants in Trieste are employed in retail trade. But from 1780 onward the development of trade brings wholesalers dynamically to the front. In 1820 in Livorno 39 out of 80 Greek professionals that are registered in the census are reported as wholesale merchants or wholesale dealers. The wholesale dealers have many names. They are called trafficanti (pedlars), mercanti, commercianti (merchants) and negozianti (wholesale dealers). It is difficult to determine the differences between these names but the richest merchants are always called negozianti.

The negozianti are employed in the transit trade. That does not necessarily mean that they travel with their products. They deal agricultural products or other products of the local or state artisanship and manufacture. They sell these goods on the market of their region or on foreign markets by exchanging products via their commercial agents of abroad or with merchants with which they cooperate.

From the last 25 years of the 18th century the negozianti of Trieste are naturalized Austrian subjects; sometimes even without having completed their ten-year stay in the city of Trieste as defined by the law. The wholesale dealers settle in Trieste permanently with their families and buy real estate in the city. They come mainly from Smyrna, the Peloponnese and from Chios after its destruction (the Rallides, the Skaramagades, the Rodokanakides and the Vlastoi are some of the big Triestine families from Chios). By the early 19th century very few wholesale merchants invest their capital in the secondary sector. From the end of the 18th century the Greek Triestine wholesale merchants are also insurers and bankers; sometimes they are even ship owners or part-ship owners. Their economic interests are very important and are linked to the incorporation of the wholesale merchant in the economic and mercantile life of the city.

In Trieste and Livorno the businesses of the wholesale merchants must obtain the approval of the city's commercial tribunal. The wholesale merchants participate actively in the administration of the commercial tribunal but also in mercantile incorporations and aim at their representation in the central and local administration and the safeguard of their interests. Between 1795-1803 Greek wholesale merchants, as Nikolaos Plastaras, Caesar Pelegrinis, Ioannis Drosos-Plastaras and Kyriakos Katraros become associate judges in the commercial tribunal of Trieste. At the time of the commercial flourishing of the Greek colony, from the end of the 18th century onward, the Greeks participate actively in the Borsa (Stock Market and Chamber of Commerce) of Trieste. By 1787 Petros Konialis, a wholesale merchant from Cyprus and a controversial personality, is the only Greek member of the Borsa while after ten years the number of the Greeks raises to 11 out of 68 members. In Livorno the Chamber of Commerce is founded in 1801. During the period 1802-1819 Greek wholesale merchants preside over 28 cases. Among them we find Panagiotis Pallis, Fillipos and Andreas Kostakis and Alexandros Patrinos.

Nevertheless, the Greek wholesale merchants in Trieste and Livorno experienced periods of decline when their cities were under the French occupation for many years during the Napoleonic Wars. The third French occupation of Livorno lasted from 1800 to 1813 while Trieste was under the French occupation for the third time from 1809 to 1813. At that time many Greeks of Livorno move their business to other Italian or western European cities or in the Levant. Thus, in 1812 there is no Greek among the economically powerful which pay more than 500 francs taxes. In Trieste after the third French occupation, in 1815 new businessmen, most from Smyrna and Chios, appear in the place of the previous.

In Neapolis Greek wholesale merchants appear after 1820. During the 19th century they found commercial houses, shipping agencies and banks (such as the Skylitsi Bank) but historians have not yet detailed information on the Greek wholesale merchants of Neapolis neither on those of Ancona in the 18th century. It is most likely that the Greek merchants of Ancona of the 18th century did not develop remarkable business activities in Ancona of that period, the "place of merchants, courtiers, speculators, usurers, but certainly not a place of business men", as described by the Italian historian Alberto Caracciolo (Caracciolo, Le port franc d' Ancone, 241).

There are certainly Greek merchants from the levant that also come to the Italian ports. These merchants often sell the merchandise they transport on the spot, with no previous agreement, and buy other goods. That is the way most Greek merchants who come for the trade fair of the small papal port, Senigallia, trade. The majority of these small merchants which appear mainly from 1800 onward come from the Ionian isles and are therefore Venetian subjects. Moreover, there are also Greeks that come to the trade fair of Senigallia from the Greek colonies of the neighbouring Ancona and Trieste.

Merchandise

The Greeks import to the Italian ports raw materials and nutrition products from the Levant and export mainly manufactured and handicraft products and minerals, as well as products that the western cities imported from their colonies.

The Greeks first appear in Trieste in 1748 trading raisins from the Levant. In the following years, raisins remain one of the principle trading products that the Greeks import to Trieste often in order to resell to England. In the beginning raisins come from the Ionian islands and the Peloponnese. From 1780 and mainly in the 1820's many merchants trade raisins from Smyrna. One of the first products that Greeks transport to Trieste is olive oil, a product that almost all powerful Greek merchants will trade in the following years often distributing it from Trieste to Austria or Germany. In the beginning they obtain olive oil from the Ionian islands, the Peloponnese and from Crete from the end of the 18th century when the Greek marine develops, as well as from Attica, Smyrna, Mytilene etc.

Greeks also import to Trieste cotton and white or red fibres from the Levant that are bound for France and Austria, although these products are transported by land routes from the end of the 18th century when the Austrian-Turkish frontiers open. In addition, the Greeks bring from the Levant to Trieste soap (mainly in the 19th century), unprocessed wax, animal hides, wool, small quantities of silk, tobacco, sponges, acorn, vegetable colouring substances, turtles, unprocessed copper, wine, fruit (especially desiccated figs), cheese, honey, fish-roe, corn, oats and wheat. The Greek merchants obtain these products mainly from the Peloponnese, the Ionian islands and Crete. From the late 18th century the coast of Asia Minor and Smyrna supply the merchants of Trieste with all the products of the Levant in large quantities. (5)

The West supplies the Levant (mainly Smyrna, but also the Ionian islands, the Peloponnese, Crete, Cyprus, Constantinople, Alexandria) via Trieste with timber, crude iron, nails (from Styria), iron sheeting, iron wire, pans, steel, copper, lead, arms, textiles from Leipzig and Austria, crystal from Bohemia, mirrors, glassware, porcelain, paper, colonial products (pepper, cinnamon, as well as sugar, coffee and indigo in the 19th century) and coins. The general export trade of Trieste to the Levant is however mainly passive.

In Livorno, as in Trieste, the Greek merchants bring olive oil, dried fruit, wine, wool, animal hides, cotton, wax, silk, various vegetable and organic substances as well as spices and perfume from the Levant. Above all the Greeks import to Livorno wheat from Russia. In the 18th century wheat can be stored easily and safely in Livorno. Consequently, the port of the Tyrrhenian sea obtains the control of the international trade of wheat because of its geographic position. The treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji of 1774 offers the possibility to Greek ships bearing the Russian flag to travel to the Mediterranean through the Black Sea and transport Russian wheat to Livorno.

In the 17th and 18th centuries the Levant merchants - including the Greeks - come to Ancona to exchange their goods (acorn, animal hides, wax, wool, cotton, flax, tobacco, salt, silk, fabrics, corn) with western goods of high demand in the Levant (gold or silver from America, arms, munitions, sulphur, Dutch textiles).

Western products reach the neighbouring Senigallia during the trade fair period through Ancona. The Greek merchants from the Ionian and Aegean islands, Missolonghi and Trieste find at the papal port of Senigallia English and Dutch colonial products (pepper, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, clove, tea), ceramics from the Italian cities, ironware from central Europe, crystal from Bohemia and Venice, ropes, silk fabrics from Florence, Lucca, Padova, Venice and Bologna. Greeks transport to Senigallia "typical" Levantine products: wool, cheese, hides, acorn, cotton, cotton fibres, wax, olive oil, sponges, soap and tar. They also transport certain kinds of textiles from Smyrna and Thessaloniki, capes and silk socks from Germany and Moravia, that are distributed to Ancona, Livorno, Padova and Venice.

Trading techniques

In the Italian ports the Greek negozianti from Trieste and Livorno are organized in commercial companies. The commercial companies are usually composed of less than four members. The companies of Trieste were obliged to operate on the approval of the commercial tribunal. However, many times the Greeks prefer to trade their merchandise without approval because of the political and economical instability in the Mediterranean. Thus, in 1808 only 41 out of 79 Greek negozianti were registered in the commercial tribunal.

At the end of the 18th century and in the first years of the 19th century commercial companies are for the most part simple, personal companies in which all partners share the company liability equally. Usually it is the members of the same family that enter into partnership. Some partners that come to Italy are from the same place while others were in the same commercial cycle before becoming partners. The cases in which Greek merchants associate with foreign merchants are very few.

In Trieste, partners of simple companies in which partners are equally liable can be "apparent" or "non apparent". "Apparent" means that their name appears in the company name submitted to the commercial tribunal, and that they are liable altogether for all the matters of their company. "Non apparent" means that they are liable only for the capital deposited in the company. The majority of the Greek merchants who associate in the last two decades of the 18th century are "apparent" partners since they do not have enough a capital to be registered in the commercial tribunal as "non apparent" partners. The companies of equal liability in Trieste mainly rely on capital deriving from merchandise, bills of exchange, real estate, ships, shares of insurance companies and rarely from cash. Most companies in Trieste and Livorno do not survive more than five years but many times the companies that are founded in their place are the old ones organized on a new basis. Two of the Greek commercial companies in Trieste that lasted the most were: "Androulakis, Tabiskos and Company" (1788-1810) and "Nikolaos Plastaras and Sons" (1787-1796).

In the 1920's, many Greek merchants have gathered capital that enables them to enter into more advanced forms of companies, such as the companies "in accomandita" or simply "accomandite". In this kind of companies the inviolable term is that the parties are not equally liable. In an "in accomandita" company for example, with two partners, one of them is accomandante and the other accomandatario. The accomandante deposits a part or the whole share capital and is only financially involved in the company; therefore he is non apparent, a silent partner. The accomandatario is in charge of the management of capital and the administration of the company, consequently he is liable to the company. He is apparent, the general partner. The "in accomandita" company may be a simple one or a stock company. For example a stock company "in accomandita" is the company that the Greeks Panagiotis Pallis, Dimitris Gallias, Antonios Perdikaris and members of the Rodokanakis family founded with the Italian Niccolo Perrer in Livorno 1833. Many times a merchant would be a partner in more than one "accomandite" companies, as the immensely rich Dimitrios Kartsiotis in Trieste who was an accomandante in three companies in 1815. Members of the same family were often partners of the "accomandite" companies.

The Greek wholesale merchants organize their businesses based on relatives and national bonds. Their companies maintain financial bonds with businesses in the places from which they supply their company or the place they send their merchandise to be sold. During the 19th century the wholesale merchants of Livorno are permanently represented abroad, mainly in Smyrna and Constantinople but also in Malta, Cairo, Alexandria and Thessaloniki. From 1820 onward they are represented in Marseille, London, Odessa, Taganrog and Rostov. The Greeks of Livorno maintain subsidiary companies abroad or cooperate with commercial houses of foreign countries which are usually directed by family members while they may also combine both methods. In Trieste in the late 18th century and in the first decades of the 19th century, rarely do Greek wholesale merchants maintain legally subsidiary companies abroad (mainly in Smyrna). This is due to the Austrian legislation which aims at preventing the flow of business capital in foreign markets.

The Greek merchants and wholesale merchants of Trieste and Livorno are involved in transit trade; they are the commercial intermediaries between the Levant and the West.

In Trieste the Greek negozianti usually take up orders (commissioni). Merchants from the Levant, mainly from Smyrna and the Peloponnese, send their merchandise to the Greeks of Trieste who sell it on behalf of the Levantine merchants and keep a commission (often 2% of the merchandise value). In addition, the Greeks of Trieste buy western products on behalf of the Levantine merchants and send them against a commission. Thus, they act as commission agents (commissionari) and the Levant merchants as purchasers, principals (commetenti). Some wholesale merchants from Trieste are occupied with dispatching (spedizioni) mostly by ship. In this way, a merchant could send goods to another with a commission in exchange, without getting involved in the purchase and sale (as the commissionari). The Greek negozianti of Livorno must have acted in the same way. In Livorno, the commercial agents who are responsible for the organization of the transportation are called raccomandatari (as in Trieste also) and the wholesale merchants who are involved in the purchase and sale of goods, destinatari. In certain cases, it is the commercial house itself that undertakes the transportation, the purchase and sale of the products.

The Greek negozianti are also involved in buying and selling bills of exchange. These transactions are done through the Triestine Borsa (Stock Exchange and Chamber of Commerce). They act as "banker-merchants": they transfer the bills of exchange from a market where they have a low value to another of high value and thus keep the difference (speculazioni or arbitrii) or discount the bills of exchange to gain the interest of the money up to the expiration date (sconti in piazza).

The Greek wholesale merchants of Trieste in the late 18th century and those of Livorno in the early 19th century are also insurers. They are mainly involved in insuring ships that travel to and from the Levant.

In 1789 the first Greek insurance company of Trieste is founded; the Societa Greca di Assicurazioni (Greek Insurance Company). In the following years more insurance companies were founded in which the majority of the members were Greek, participating with a large capital. The Greek Insurance Company operated until 1807 and 1815 while it was re-founded after the third French occupation of Trieste as Nuova Societa Greca di Assicurazioni (New Greek Insurance Company). It is the flourishing time of the insurance companies. During the period 1814-1830, 27 insurance companies are founded in Trieste. The majority of the partners of 3 of these companies (the Nuova Societa Greca di Assicurazioni, the Greco Banco di Assicurazioni and the Societa Triestina di Assicurazioni) are Greek. It seems that the same goes for the Adrtiatico Banco di Assicurazioni (Adriatic Insurance Bank) which is founded in 1826 on the initiative of Angelos Giannikesis from Zacynthos. The Greeks of Livorno begin to participate actively in the insurance sector much later, in the 1840's, when their business activities are gradually incorporated in the economy of Livorno. Between 1841 and 1843 the Greeks of Livorno contribute to the foundation of two insurance companies and in the following years they obtain shares of various insurance companies.

Trading methods must have been similar in the Hellenic colony of Neapolis. As for the trade fair of Senigallia, and generally in all trade fairs, the Greek merchants could trade in person with their customers. Many times there was no need for taking up orders. On the other hand, the rhythm of trade that operated on an annual business basis demanded this order system. Agreements were often made verbally. In the trade fair, one witness sufficed so that a verbal agreement could have the same force with a written agreement.