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On 19 January 2026, the DiplomatiCon Seminars series welcomed Filippo Vaccaro for a presentation entitled Mediators and Rebels: The Making of Venetian-Cretan Tensions before 1363.

Filippo Vaccaro is a postdoctoral researcher in Medieval History at La Sapienza University of Rome and the Istituto Storico Italiano per il Medio Evo. He completed most of his academic training at La Sapienza, where he earned his PhD in 2025 with a dissertation entitled Un’isola ambivalente: la società veneto-cretese, la congiuntura trecentesca e la nascita di un’identità mediterranea (1299–1363). Part of his doctoral research was conducted at the University of Heidelberg, where he collaborated with the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies. He also holds a diploma in Archival Studies from the State Archive of Rome. His research focuses on late medieval Venice, the Eastern Mediterranean, and maritime history.

In his presentation, Vaccaro explored the evolution of diplomatic and para-diplomatic relations between Venice and Crete during the first half of the fourteenth century, a period that preceded the Revolt of St Titus in 1363. Moving beyond scholarship that has traditionally concentrated on the uprising itself, the paper examined earlier episodes that reveal structural tensions within the Venetian colonial system. Building on the work of Sally McKee and Freddy Thiriet, Vaccaro argued that these episodes should be understood not as isolated incidents but as indications of a deeper fracture between Venice and its Cretan subjects.

The talk focused on three case studies: the petitions of the universitas feudatorum in 1307 and 1326, highlighting its role as a political interlocutor; the correspondence of Ruggero Morosini (1331–1332), which demonstrates how commercial agents could also act as mediators and informants; and the dissidence of Francesco Gradenigo and Tito Venier (1355–1356), whose defence by Alessio Corner illuminates the complex and often ambiguous position of the Cretan elite. Drawing on chronicles, petitions, Senate deliberations, judicial acts, and merchant correspondence preserved in the Archivio di Stato di Venezia, the paper showed how fiscal burdens, commercial restrictions, and claims for political representation contributed to an increasing divergence between Venice and Crete, ultimately culminating in open rebellion.

The seminar was discussed by Isabella Lazzarini, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Turin and one of the leading scholars of late medieval and Renaissance diplomacy. Her research focuses on political power, institutions, diplomatic practices, and political communication in medieval and Renaissance Italy and Europe, as well as on public writing and gender studies in the late medieval period.