Girolamo Manfrin (1742 – 1801) was an entrepreneur active in
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
in the 18th century. He was born in Zara (today
Zadar,
Croatia) in the
Republic of Venice. His origins are unclear. His family wasn't noble, nor does it appear among the citizens of Venice.
V. Spreti traced his line back to a Manfredo created count in 1433.
He appeared in Venice for the first time in the 1760s. He struggled in Venice in the beginning, ending up in jail after he refused to reveal (as it was customary) the names of the investors of the tender for conducting Venice's tobacco trade, which he had won. He spent more than a year in jail. He was later released and sent to his native Zara.
He again attempted to engage in the
tobacco trade, winning a second tender. Later he became involved also in manufacturing. In 1788 he was able to buy the
Palazzo Venier in
Cannareggio.
Sources
* Martina Frank, Girolamo Manfrin, in Dizionario biografico degli italiani, vol. 68, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 2007. URL consultato l'11 giugno 2013.
* Fonti e Bibl.: Arch. di Stato di Venezia, Senato, Rettori, filza 372, febbraio 1786;
* R. Tolomeo, Il commercio e il contrabbando del tobacco tra Serenissima e Levante, in Mercanti e viaggiatori per le vie del mondo, a cura di G. Motta, Milano 2000, pp. 275–288;
* V. Spreti, Enc. storico-nobiliare italiana, Appendice, II, pp. 251–253. M. Frank
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Manfrin, Girolamo
1742 births
1801 deaths
People from Zadar
Italian businesspeople