The modern “colleganza”: your target, our values.

In the Middle Ages, Venice layed the foundation of its future success by becoming the most powerful maritime Republic (which, at that age, meant being the world’s greatest power). Today, every the casual visitor can imagine how fascinating Venice must have been  during both the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period.

Venice’s influence and clout were due to its commercial and pragmatic attitude, a common trait of its people and of the ruling class (Nobles were often merchants rather than landowners). Also, Venice rose because of

  • a far-sighted set of rules, quite adaptable to the changing needs of its society but nonetheless strictly applicable to all individuals, so much that even the Doge (Venice’s Duke) was never above the law;
  • the ability to ensure that capital was adequately remunerated for the common good
  • the attention paid to the less affluent .
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The “Colleganza” was a notarial deed, often used for long distance sea trade dealings, in which various kind of people could take part to attain a common and generally highly profitable, albeit far-flung, goal.

There were many different approaches to chip in, via provision of:  funding or working capital,  negotiation with clients , lending a ship (owned or co-owned), labor, taking part in business personally by boarding onto the ship, investing their own savings in the undertaking while staying home (like widows, nuns, priests or housewives).

As it can be implicitly noticed, Venice women had full rights to employ their personal properties, and they were also allowed to finance commercial companies (considering the first recorded “colleganza” is dated 1.073 AC, the modern approach is evident).

It is calculated that from 1204 to 1261 (when Constantinople had trades monopoly) 40% of the people involved in “colleganza” were working-class individuals, as if it were a nowadays’ stock exchange, not reserved to Nobles only, but open to anyone willing to actively invest their capital.

We do believe that in order to achieve long-term targets with mutual benefits, it is fundamental to be partners of our stakeholders (customers, especially).

We do believe that an in-depth knowledge in law and professional techniques is fundamental to find practical and, at the same time, rigorous solutions suitable to meet the ever-changing targets of the businesses, especially in the current context, calling for a great level of resilience to adapt to changes and foresee them.

We do believe that our contribution to a partnership is just a part of the job; that various kind of people and various kind of interests coexist in business, and our task is to understand every single peculiarity and that, above all, we must have an overall vision in order to make our support to our clients really meaningful.

We are fully convinced that every stakeholder can provide a positive contribution to a business and that their view is key to understanding the human side behind every organization, a fundamental aspect of working together towards a common goal.

We believe that the best way for us to be partners of our customers, and walk together towards a common future, is to be aware of our knowledge and share it, respecting everybody’s role.

What we want today is a real partnership with our customer, as they would
 say in Venice during the Middle Ages: a “colleganza”.