This book is the culmination of a research project funded by the University of Pisa's internationalisation support programme of 2008-10.
The project's underlying idea is that the Mediterranean is of decisive importance for any investigation into the political and commercial relations between states of different size and constitutional structure in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It thus scrutinises the practices, institutions and cultural tendencies of the region's ruling classes, from those of the Italian small states to those of the great powers. Salerno, Edigati, Angiolini, Addobbati and Zamora examine the theme of the small state by focusing on the Grand Duchy of Tuscany and its foreign policy centred on the free port of Livorno and the principle of neutrality, while Herrero and Aglietti describe how diplomats from the Republic of Genoa, the Dutch Republic and the consuls of the Italian small states helped preserve the European balance of power.
Since war was a catalyst for the internal reorganisation of states, the correlation of war, trade and neutrality as processes of emulation is investigated by Stapelbroek, Alimento and Calafat, while the reception and circulation of theoretical models is recounted by Trampus, Schnakenbourg and Spagnesi. The book is also enriched by the reflections of Guasti, Montorzi and Salvemini regarding the project's methodological structures and outcomes.

Antonella Alimento , PhD from the Scuola Normale Superiore of Pisa, teaches Early Modern History in the History Department of the University of Pisa. Her most significant works include: Réformes fiscales et crises politiques dans la France de Louis XV. De la taille tarifée au cadastre général (2008, Italian first edition 1995); Finanze ed amministrazione. Un'inchiesta francese sui catasti nell'Italia del Settecento (1763-1764) , (2008). She also edited Modelli d'Oltre confine: Prospettive economiche e sociali negli antichi stati italiani (2009).