“Cruzando aceros”. El comercio de espadas entre España e Italia en los siglos XVI y XVII

This paper analyses sword trade between Spain and Italy in sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through the study of two commercial routes used by European commercial networks from two unpublished sources: Archivio di Stato di Firenze and Archivo Historico de Protocolos de Granada. Firstly, we will examine sword importation through Leghorn, port of Florence and Tuscany, from the Spanish ports of Cadiz and Alicante, among others. Secondly, we will analyse Italian sword trade carried out by Genoese commercial companies placed in Granada. These merchants supplied swordsmiths from Granada —almost unknown by historiography— with Italian sword blades from Milan, Brescia, Serravalle and Genoa.