Antonio Vinciguerra: the Ideological Initiator of the Venetian Appearance of the City of Krk

The island of Krk was the last island of the North Adriatic to become part of the great dominion of the Most Serene Republic of Venice. This article deals with Antonio Vinciguerra, the Secretary of the Republic, who was sent to Krk as its representative in the crucial moment in 1480. He played an important role in the takeover of the island. Vinciguerra was immediately appointed as a proveditor, the role he held for almost a year. We learn of his acts from his manuscript entitled Cronica di Veglia. Symbolic “colonization” of the urban space was a common practice of the Venetian Republic, and the text demonstrates the role of an important figure as the initiator of the gradual and subtle changes in the appearance of the city which would soon boast numerous signs of the Venetian hegemony, such as lions of St Mark.