Filípoli, Filípica o Filipiana: hegemonía y arbitrismo a través de las 'Advertencias sobre los presidios de Toscana' de Francisco Álvarez de Ribera (1568)

Abstract

During a period of intense reorganisation of Spanish imperial rule in Italy, Francisco Alvarez de Ribera, a distinguished functionary of the Monarchy, revived in his Advertencias sobre los presidios de Toscana an old project previously discussed withim Sienese erudite circles. This project was the foundation of an important royal port in the Stato dei Presidi (an Spanish military base on the coast of Siena), which would be called Filipoli, Filipica or Filipiana. With this measure he intended to consolidate the hegemony of the Spanish Monarchy in Italy as a response to Cosimo de Medici's growing power. The analysis of these papers permits us to go beyond the project's practical application and to gain a deeper insight into the basis of the Catholic Monarchy's power in Italy and the role of the Stato dei Presidi in the so-called Spanish imperial system.