Book: Los Serra entre la República de Génova y la Monarquía Hispánica. Servicio, redes y espacios de identidad (1576 ca.-1650 ca.)

Available in: http://libros.csic.es/product_info.php?products_id=1586 

This book analyses some of the branches of the Serra network, a Genoese family that played a remarkable role as interlocutor between the Ligurian Republic and the Spanish Monarchy, especially from the end of the 16th century until the reign of Philip IV. To this end, the Serra family articulated a variegated network of relatives, partners and correspondents that embraced key locations for Spanish logistics, as well as various areas of investment and services that were highly dependent on the international and local context, the conditions of the family and the specific interests of the subjects. The work combines the micro- and macro-historical scale in the different topics addressed: from the study of the origins of the family and the construction of its transnational network, through the prominent role played by the different services to the Spanish Monarchy (finance, debt, asientos of galleys and military, mainly), to the analysis of the forms of investment, the display of status and the cultural expressions that defined the identities of the family in those spaces in which it operated. Through an exhaustive analysis of a multitude of Italian and Spanish sources and a multidisciplinary approach, the case presented is a study of a transnational elite that highlights the polycentric nature of the States of the Ancien Régime, as well as the concomitances between the monarchic and republican systems in the Early Modern Age, strongly dependent on the economic, cultural and political services of Genoese individuals.

Ben Yessef Garfia, Y. R., Los Serra entre la República de Génova y la Monarquía Hispánica Servicio, redes y espacios de identidad (1576 ca.-1650 ca.), Madrid, CSIC. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2022.