SIHS Article Prize for Medieval and Early Modern Italian History: Dr. Michael Martoccio (2021)

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Martoccio for winning the 2021 SIHS Article Prize for Medieval and Early Modern Italian History for his article “The Art of Mercato: Buying City-States in Renaissance Tuscany,” published in Past & Present in August 2021. The following is the award committee’s official citation for Dr. Martoccio’s award, along with an interview between Dr. Amanda Madden and Dr. Martoccio on the research behind “The Art of the Mercato,” among other topics.

Award Committee Citation

The committee unanimously and enthusiastically agrees to award the SIHS prize for Medieval and Early Modern History to Michael Martoccio for his article ‘The Art of the Mercato: Buying City-States in Renaissance Tuscany’ (Past & Present, 2021). Carefully positioned in the existing scholarship and supported by a meticulous and insightful analysis of a variety of primary sources, Martoccio’s essay reveals the logistics and meanings of the early modern Italian financial and political practice of buying city states. Uncovering an important aspect of Renaissance political life and exploring the links between the money-market economy and the language of empire, this article stirs us to consider the overlapping valences of Italian imperial projects that were at once commercial, territorial, and moral.

Interview Video