This 2000 volume was the first attempt at a comparative reconstruction of the foreign policy and diplomacy of the major Italian states in the early modern period. The various contributions reveal the instruments and forms of foreign relations in the Italian peninsula. They also show a range of different case-studies and models which share the values and political concepts of the cultural context of diplomatic practice in the ancien régime. While Venice, the Papal States, the duchy of Savoy, Florence (later the duchy of Tuscany), Mantua, Modena, and later the kingdom of Naples may be considered minor states in the broader European context, their diplomatic activity was equal to that of the major powers. This reconstruction of their ambassadors, their secretaries, and their ceremonies offers a fascinating interpretation of the political history of early modern Italy.

"Using a range of models, [the authors] discuss such topics as diplomacy and government in the 15th-century Florence and Venice, Vatican diplomacy, economic and social aspects of the crisis of Venetion diplomacy in the 17th and 18th centuries, Mantua and Modena as small states, and Savoyard diplomacy in the 18th century." Reference & Research Book News

"The book is interesting for Itanlian historian." The International History Review