My name is Pietro Rosso. I live with my three children and wife in the city of Genoa. The two youngest children stay home with their mother and are schooled by a private tutor. My oldest son has started to help out with the family shipping business. My wife stays home most of the day to cook meals and look after the younger children.

We live in the wealthy city of Genoa, right on the water. The economy has grown immensely and the city is becoming one of the most powerful in the area. Genoa is traditionally known for its large navy and shipping port. With low interest loans being taken out from the banks, many people are able to start their own business.

When I was young I helped my father build his shipping business. After he passed away I inherited the business and have expanded it. Taking out a loan from one of the local banks has made trade with Asia possible. Rare Asian spices and silks are extremely valuable in Italy and have allowed even more growth to happen to my business.

When I was young, my father had made enough money with his business to have a private tutor educate me. He knew that I was going to eventually take over the family business when I was old enough but he still felt it was valuable to have a school education. Being educated may not help with my day to day life, but it has opened my mind to a new way of thinking. I hope that one day my children will continue the Rosso shipping business but for now they are following in my footsteps and learning from a tutor.

 I am Lorenzo Baldovinetti, a powerful merchant in Genoa. I was born in the year 1457 after my mother Diana Baldovinetti died from giving birth to me. I became a merchant following in my late father’s footsteps after he died from the Black Death. My wife Cilicia has recently gotten pregnant with my soon to be heir. Once he’s grown of considerable age I will show him the right way to run our business and then I will hand it over to him.   

Since my family hired a tutor who taught me from a selection of books about philosophy, Greek, and Latin which helped to further my education and in turn help me to become the powerful merchant I am today. It’s my hope to provide the same education for my soon to be born son. Being an influential merchant I am the patron for many artists that create beautiful works of art that I hope my son will get to one day enjoy when looking at this beautiful city.

Genoa is a city that is located on the north-west coastline. For this reason Genoa is considered one of Italy’s greatest mercantile powers and this allows for many of our workers to have business around the water. This is great for Genoa but has had its toll and caused the eastern Italian trading ports of Venice and Pisa to become our rival power. Since my wife is the daughter of a very rich and influential Nobel we support each other by helping to gain power and favor over the other classes in our society from the highest to even the lowest working class. We might seem like a republican city; but if you look at the power nobles have it seems more like an oligarchy.

The trade in which I mostly focus on is cloth.  This is the trade that my family has specialized in for years. Usually the cloth we export is that of blue cloth which is used to make clothing such as pants and shirts. This has been very lucrative for my family and has proved to be a very nice way of earning money.

Salve! My name is Tiberio Fonte, I’m an Italian, but more importantly a Genoan.  I am a patron of the arts, a wealthy merchant, and a powerful politician. My family consists of my beautiful wife Clarissa, my son and heir Giovanni. My brilliant son has just started his formal education with his private tutor, who will tutor him in the same manner I was tutored. The year is 1439 and I currently live in the small, but marvelous city-state of Genoa. 

Due to Genoa’s location along the coast much of the city’s inhabitants are traders or have business based around water. Genoa’s prime location in the north of the Tyrrhenian Sea allows us great control of the sea and the islands of Sardinia and Corsica.  The city-state of Genoa is classified as a Republic however it is more of an oligarchy. Several powerful merchant families, including my own, control the city’s government representatives and more times than not the voice of the rich overshadows the voice of the artisans.

I myself am a patron and merchant, but have many other merchants working under me, and my trading group is one of the only trading groups to travel to Constantinople to purchase and exchange goods.  My trade group monopolizes the distribution of the finest silks from China, as well as selling perfumes and spices from the Middle East. As well as importing foreign goods from Constantinople, we are a main exporter of Italian goods such as wines, olive oils and wools. Now that I have amassed a large fortune, I hope to fund exploration trips for eager explorers, expanding my trading empire and Genoan influence throughout the known world.

Since there aren’t any universities in Genoa, I received tutoring, from a private educator that was hired by my family. Through tutoring I was taught grammar, arithmetic, Latin, Greek, philosophy and rhetoric, as well as being educated in classic literature. As well as receiving tutoring, my father taught me how to run the family trade business, and slowly over the years I have expanded our control, and influence as a family.

Genoa has always been a Christian city, but as of late the actions have of the church has come under scrutiny throughout the city. Although there are still devout followers of Pope Eugene the IV, many educated citizens, like myself, have come to believe that the church is becoming corrupt. Since the beginning of the sale of indulgences, we have begun to question the papacy and leaders of the church. Instead of following the church, many intellectuals like myself have turned to the readings of authors such as Petrarch and Salutati. Many of us have now believe in a Christian-Humanism denomination, and while we shall never revoke god, we believe in the ability and value of humans and man kind.